Thursday, August 27, 2020

End of Free Play

By the time this gets posted, Little Miss Sunshine will have had gotten through her first day of kindergarten – and hopefully, I have my bearings intact.

A little over five-and-a-half years ago, Caeli Elise was born nearly four months premature. You’ve all read the chapters over the time span, and a lot of other stuff namely me finding my political voice (Garveyism within the concept of being pro-Black in very conservative Arkansas – study Brother Marcus Garvey to understand the views and why I found that speaks to me more than any Democratic, Republican, Green, or Libertarian Party ever will), sharing the ups and downs of serving a small traditional Black Baptist church in a leadership capacity, and igniting a passion that my family and Saline County as a whole have enjoyed since 2017 in Dub Shack BBQ; nonetheless, many eyes have peered themselves toward this direction as a result of the Dad Chronicles – life as a preemie pop to today, just a middle-class dad trying to love, care, protect, and provide for his wife and only child.

But all things do come to an end, and in the age of coronavirus, Caeli is starting kindergarten at big school. This Tiger (no, she won’t be a Leopard or a Wampus Cat – we live the Hornet life down here) is looking forward to it, and I have to say I agree mostly because the past five months have turned our worlds and routines upside down. For a child who was robbed of finishing pre-K by this novel ailment, she has been remarkably resilient except for playtime with her neighbors when we have to remind her why she cannot go into their houses to play. However, she needs to return to a regular routine of waking up early and laying down at a very defined bedtime:  What this means is the village must step up - when one falls short, another picks up the pieces for the ship to keep sailing smoothly.

Like I said months ago, AMI was a nonstarter for Caeli. We will have to get a feel of Google Classroom if not set up my computer for Zoom on a semi-permanent basis.

Do we have all of this together? Hell no! Not even close, and for some parts of it, I wish we would not have had to endure.

As the above tweet references, I am terrified of what Collegeville Elementary brings us in an abnormal school year. For the Wampus Cats who remember her, this is the school Katie (Villines) Thomas was the principal before she passed away from a heart attack a few years ago; I am still confident in the teaching and support staff educating Caeli as well as assuaging my own concerns and worries as they still exist. It’s not like I can be a helicopter parent given all of the security measures for everyone’s protection from COVID19 – heck, I can’t even bring McDonald’s in one day to eat lunch with her! More, this could very well be culture shock for her in a way that our own neighborhood looks like the United Nations in comparison:  I won’t deny the fact that she will walk into a classroom and for the first time, not only do most of the other students not look like her but possibly neither will the teacher. Coming from the majority-Black preschools in Little Rock she had attended – and excelled – this will be a new ballgame. I’m sure she’ll do fine yet as her father, I had better be on my A-game!

WE DON’T PLAY THAT.

More significantly, the end of free play means that the days of unstructured games are ending. I did not say innocence, but free play before structured routine takes over her days. In large part to COVID19, we are having to break bad habits such as sleeping in and obsessively watching YouTube, playing Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite (all of which have been banned) only to replace them with good habits and further exploring her interests in astronomy and technology. She’ll get to live a normal (for 2020) childhood but there will be days when I miss my baby bear being so small and all of the fun things that her mom has an idea of that I won’t mention in this space such as airplane *all aboard Air Caeli* around the house.

I am not ready for this - the tears will be proof in the pudding.

Thanks to all of you for your fervent prayers, relationships, newly discovered friendships within Springhill Manor as we try to help keep Bryant’s best-kept secret safe enough for our kids to play freely, reading the words that have come from this space over the past several years, and for anything that has escaped my mind over the time. As we begin the process of formal elementary education, we must recognize that not every day will be a ride in the back of the Cadillac; bumps, bruises, and potholes will have a part in the program that we must prepare ourselves for.


 


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Monday, August 10, 2020

Where Da Bird At? Dub Shack BBQ Presents Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

 

I know it is way too hot to hang out around the smoker, but for a couple hours of hard work, the end result can be legendary!

I decided to smoke some chicken leg quarters for the three of us; one day after the coronavirus pandemic ceases, I’ll invite a few of you to the house to eat, drink, and enjoy each other. This is a very easy, versatile, and affordable way to put dinner together, and if that doesn’t suit your fancy, smoked chicken leg quarters also can become leftovers for sandwiches, shredded enchiladas, salads, and so forth.

For the backstory of the title:  In college, a few of us were day drinking on the patio and one of the guys had an idea of frying chicken that night. As par for the course, I had to work meaning I knew I was going to miss out on the bird, so I did not think anything of it until the next day when Lance’s chicken was the talk of the apartment and the four words I wrote on the shared whiteboard were:  Where da bird at? Instantly – and from that moment forward, the first thing in conversation was that question.

Back to the barbecue part – and the reason why you’re reading this post.

You don’t have to trim much on leg quarters, but I will remove the feathers the processing plant missed and the extra fat and skin. Below is a general seasoning recipe – again, make this your own.

·        Table salt

·        Black pepper

·        Chicken seasoning of your choice

One thing I did differently is I marinated the chicken in beer overnight before taking the pieces out of the Ziploc bag and shaking off the excess liquid before sprinkling the seasonings onto each piece.

Any grill will get the job done as long it is set up for indirect heat. I used my Oklahoma Joe offset smoker with a couple of chimneys of charcoal (your brand of choice is your preference, and as a FYI I have no real favorite on the big boy) and some chunks of hickory and cherrywood for smoke. Once the temperature made it to 275 degrees, I positioned all eleven pieces skin side up onto the cooking grate and let the smoker work its magic. After the first hour, feel free to take a look at the chicken and move the pieces around for an even cook; keep in mind that the temperature still needs to be around 275 unless you don’t mind sitting around and working a little harder for the quarters to reach an internal temperature of 175.

Three hours later, the chicken was thoroughly smoked and done! The trick with chicken is to cook it through without drying it out, and thankfully when leg quarters are cooked, they can take a hotter temperature. I cannot say the same thing of a boneless breast.

Let the chicken rest for a few minutes, and may the eating commence!

How did we eat ours? With greens and blackeye peas, if you really want to know. This works well with a lot of things – in sandwiches (try my Dat White, The O.G., or the newest flavor Dang! Oh, Mango sauces); family style with mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts; and of course, for lunch with baked beans and Woo Pig mac and cheese with a pickle spear on the side.

Remember, every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! Stay safe, keep practicing social distancing, wash your hands often, be blessed, and please remain kind to one another.

 

 

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Sunday, August 9, 2020

When the US Government Was OK With Snitching

William O'Neal, the FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Panthers, responsible for the assassination of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton. Mourners pass by the coffin of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton at his memorial service on Dec. 9, 1969, at the First Baptist Church of Melrose Park. Hampton was murdered during a police raid on Dec. 4, 1969.

In late 1968, the Racial Matters squad of the FBI's Chicago field office brought in an individual named William O'Neal, who had recently been arrested twice, for interstate car theft and impersonating a federal officer. In exchange for having his felony charges dropped and a monthly stipend, O'Neal agreed to infiltrate the BPP as a counterintelligence operative. He joined the Party and quickly rose in the organization, becoming Director of Chapter security and Hampton's bodyguard.

By means of anonymous letters, the FBI sowed distrust and eventually instigated a split between the Panthers and the Rangers, with O'Neal himself instigating an armed clash between the two on April 2, 1969. The Panthers became effectively isolated from their powerbase in the ghetto, so the FBI went to work to undermine its ties with other radical organizations. O'Neal was instructed to create a rift between the Party and SDS, whose Chicago headquarters was only blocks from that of the Panthers. The Bureau released a batch of racist cartoons in the Panthers' name, aimed at alienating white activists, and launched a disinformation program to forestall the realization of the Rainbow Coalition. In repeated directives, Hoover demanded that the COINTELPRO personnel destroy what the [BPP] stood for and eradicate its 'serve the people' programs. Documents secured by Senate investigators in the early 1970s revealed that the FBI actively encouraged violence between the Panthers and other groups.

In early October, Hampton and his girlfriend, Deborah Johnson (now known as Akua Njeri), pregnant with their first child (Fred Hampton, Jr.), rented a four-and-a-half room apartment on 2337 West Monroe Street to be closer to BPP headquarters. O'Neal reported to his superiors that much of the Panthers' provocative stockpile of arms was being stored there. 

The FBI, determined to prevent any enhancement of the BPP leadership's effectiveness, decided to set up an arms raid on Hampton's Chicago apartment. FBI informant William O'Neal provided them with detailed information about Hampton's apartment, including the layout of furniture and the bed in which Hampton and his girlfriend slept. An augmented, 14-man team of the SAO — Special Prosecutions Unit — was organized for a pre-dawn raid armed with a warrant for illegal weapons.

On the evening of December 3, Hampton taught a political education course at a local church, which was attended by most members. Afterwards, as was typical, several Panthers retired to the Monroe Street apartment to spend the night, including Hampton and Deborah Johnson, Blair Anderson, Ronald "Doc" Satchell, Harold Bell, Verlina Brewer, Louis Truelock, Brenda Harris, and Mark Clark.

Upon arrival, they were met by O'Neal, who had prepared a late dinner, which the group ate around midnight. O'Neal had slipped the powerful barbiturate sleep agent, secobarbitol, into a drink that Hampton consumed during the dinner, in order to sedate Hampton so he would not awaken during the subsequent raid. O'Neal immediately left.

At 4:45 a.m, an 14 man heavily armed police team stormed into the apartment. Automatic gunfire converged at the head of the south bedroom where Hampton slept, unable to awaken as a result of the barbiturates the FBI infiltrator had slipped into his drink. He was lying on a mattress in the bedroom with his fiancée, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their child. Two officers found him wounded in the shoulder, and Black Panther Harold Bell reported that he heard the following exchange:

"That's Fred Hampton."
"Is he dead?... Bring him out."
"He's barely alive.
"He'll make it."
Two shots were heard, which were later discovered were fired point blank in Hampton's head. According to Johnson, one officer then said:

"He's good and dead now."
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The Queen of Drag

William Dorsey Swann was a gay liberation activist. Born into slavery in 1858, he was the first person in the United States to lead a queer resistance group and the first known person to self-identify as a "queen of drag". Imagine the queenery of this icon. 

He was a slave in Hancock, Maryland and was freed by Union soldiers after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. During the 1880s and 1890s, he organized a series of balls in Washington, D.C. He called himself the "queen of drag". Most of the attendees his gatherings were men who were former slaves, and were gathering to dance in their satin and silk dresses. 

William was arrested in police raids numerous times, including in the first documented case of arrests for female impersonation in the United States, on April 12, 1888. In 1896, he was falsely convicted and sentenced to 10 months in jail for "keeping a disorderly house" (running a brothel). After his sentencing, he requested a pardon from President Grover Cleveland. This request was denied, but he was the first American on record who pursued legal and political action to defend the LGBTQ community's right to gather. 

He was known to have been close with Pierce Lafayette and Felix Hall, two men who had also both been slaves and who formed the first known male same-sex relationship between enslaved Americans.

When William stopped organizing and participating in drag events, his brother continued to make costumes for the drag community. Two of his brothers had also been active participants in his drag balls.

Imagine how intelligent and ambitious this man had to be to come up with drag balls in the 1800s! Imagine how many terrible concepts he had to unlearn by himself to be a confident gay black man who does drag in the 1800s! Imagine how courageous he had to be to fight for LGBT people as a former slave in America in the 1800s! 

William Dorsey Swann is the original queen, the original drag mother, the original activist. Tell his story!
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Monday, August 3, 2020

13th

In 1866, one year after the 13th Amendment was ratified (the amendment that ended slavery), Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor (peonage). This made the business of arresting Blacks very lucrative, which is why hundreds of White men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility was to search out and arrest Blacks who were in violation of Black Codes. Once arrested, these men, women and children would be leased to plantations where they would harvest cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. Or they would be leased to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor.

It is believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Blacks were part of the system of peonage, or re-enslavement through the prison system. Peonage didn’t end until after World War II began, around 1940.

This is how it happened.


Did you catch that? It says, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could occur except as a punishment for a crime". Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. This system of convict labor is called peonage, or slavery by another name.

The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor. As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish laws called Black Codes. Here are some examples of Black Codes:


If a Black person did not have a job, he or she could be arrested and imprisoned on the charge of vagrancy or loitering.

This next Black Code will make you cringe. In South Carolina, if the parent of a Black child was considered vagrant, the judicial system allowed the police and/or other government agencies to “apprentice” the child to an "employer". Males could be held until the age of 21, and females could be held until they were 18. Their owner had the legal right to inflict punishment on the child for disobedience, and to recapture them if they ran away.

This peonage is an example of systemic racism - racism established and perpetuated by government systems. Slavery was made legal by the U.S. Government. Segregation, Black Codes, Jim Crow and peonage were all made legal by the government, and upheld by the judicial system. These acts of racism were built into the system, which is where the term “systemic racism” is derived.

This is the part of Black history that most of us were never told about.
Here are some ways that Black people had racists befuddled by living rent-free in their feeble heads, and as an example, let's begin with our home state of Arkansas. In addition to passing Act 151 of 1859 and signed by Gov. Elias N. Conway which freedmen, upon being freed, were exiled or remained in an enslaved state for a term of one year.

That also meant Black barbers were disallowed to cut white women's hair in Atlanta. 

 

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Sunday, August 2, 2020

The Inspiration For The Invisible Man

Some of you know that Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man is one of my favorite books of all time - thanks to Dr. McGinnis for giving me his copy as a graduation gift from Henderson. 

Here is the inspiration for the classic:

On this day in 1943, Robert Bandy, a private in the 730th Military Police Battalion in Jersey City, New Jersey, was entering the lobby of the Braddock Hotel in Harlem, New York, with his mother and girlfriend when he heard an African-American woman named Margie Polite shout out, “Protect me from this white man!” as she wrestled with a policeman named James Collins. When Bandy intervened, Collins tried to smack him with the nightstick. Bandy caught the nightstick and used it on Collins. After falling to the ground, Collins shot Bandy. When a false rumor spread that Bandy was dead, a riot ensured for days. Five people were killed, 400 were wounded, and 500 were arrested. It was the most violent event in Harlem’s history in a year filled with violence against African Americans including against other soldiers. Poet Langston Hughes described the inequities of fighting Nazism abroad while white supremacist violence terrorized African Americans across the U.S.: “You say we’re fighting for democracy. Then why don’t democracy include me?” The riot inspired Ralph Ellison’s novel "Invisible Man."

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