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n Thursday, February 19, the Wis-consin Black Historical Societyand Museum, in partnership withthe Milwaukee Urban League andAmerica’s Black Holocaust Mu-

seum, hosted a combination birthday celebra-tion and screening event for civil rights iconand trailblazer Vel Phillips and the documen-tary on her life and career titled: Vel Phillips,Dream Big Dreams.

The documentary first aired on Wisconsin Public Tel-evision (WPT) Monday, February 16. Narrated by EmmyAward-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson, the filmoutlined the life of civil rights pioneer Vel Phillips andher many firsts.

The event opened with refreshments as communityleaders, Milwaukee residents and friends of Phillips con-versed and gathered for pictures. Minutes in, Phillips ar-rived and made her way to a seat in the front row, turningto address the crowd with reverence and excitement; metwith applauds.

As all in attendance took their seats, a framed lettersigned by President Barack Obama and First Lady,

RUBEN HOPKINS AND DAUGHTERS: “If youwant your daughters to grow into adulthood, as ladies andwomen worthy of respect, you must be constant in your ef-fort to be in their lives and guide them properly.”

A.J. TRAYLOR AND DAUGHTER: “Little girls needtheir father in their lives; especially to show them that theyare not alone! A daddy’s love is very special for them! Andthey will always have their father’s love.”

KEN WILSON AND DAUGHTERS: “Quality timewithin a family builds stronger families. A strong connec-tion between a father and a daughter will be a foundationfor years. Hopefully (a) dad can push her to achieve herdreams.”

WILLIAM MUHAMMAD AND DAUGHTER: “Minister LouisFarrakhan teaches us that a nation can rise no higher than its women.We as fathers have a duty to protect the virtue of our girls. Our duty isto validate them, to cultivate their divine characteristics and to teachthem their aim and purpose is God’s plan.”

“Why is it important for fathers to spend quality time

with their daughters?”

Daddies and Daughters danced upa storm at theDaddy/DaughterDance at North Division Fathers and their daughters had a great time dancingthe night away at the 12th annualMilwaukee Recre-ationDaddy/Daughter Dance held at North DivisionHighSchool, 1011W.Center St. Popular DJHomerBlow provided the music. The host organizations forthe event wereMilwaukeeRecreation, the Social De-velopment Commission (SDC) and Molina HealthCare, which provided itsmascot for the occasion andhanded out parting gifts. (Photos by Yvonne Kemp)

Vel Phillips celebratesher birthday withshowing of documentary on herlife and work as civilrights, political icon

(continued on page 2)

O

Story by Angela Simmons/Photos by Yvonne Kemp

PULSE OF THECOMMUNITYPhotos and question by Yvonne Kemp

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 2

Michelle Obama addressed toPhillips was read in celebration ofher 91st birthday, which occurred theprevious day. The letter eloquentlywished Phillips many more andthanked her for all she has accom-plished to better the lives of others.

The applause continued as histori-cal footage of Phillips speaking be-fore the Common Council andphotos of Phillips and others tire-lessly marching for open housing inMilwaukee crossed the screen. Manyin attendance who know Phillips,commented on the optimism andconviction on Phillips’ face through-out the film. “This documentary broughtout what an unbelievably remarkable person she is … the perseverance, the endurance,”said author Jerrianne Hayslett. “It [Phillips’ sacrifices] put such humanity behind her ac-complishments.”

At the close of the film, following a standing ovation, attendees enthusiastically formeda line and posed questions to Phillips, who sat on stage. WPT publicist, David Glisczinski,read comments from viewers who contacted the network after the documentary aired Mon-day night. One viewer recounted, “I was eleven years old, white and lived on the whiteside of the viaduct in Milwaukee during the marches … I asked my dad if I could walkwith you, he said no. I have walked with you in spirit all these years. Bless you and yourmotivation for peaceful protests, for equal rights for all people.”

Long-time friend, Roy Evans, believed the documentary displayed Phillips’ will. “I thinkthere is something in her personality that we need to look at. There’s reasons that she wasnumber one so many times,” said Evans. “We’re losing icons like this … my action figurewas Vel Phillips.”

Phillips remained seated on stage as a group of attendees listened to her stories in admi-ration. Phillips expressed excitement about the documentary. When asked what more shewould have liked to see in the film, Phillips responded, “More about my family … I hada wonderful family.” Phillips mentioned her niece, Shaune Curry, who in the documentaryequated her aunt to a Phoenix, who keeps rising. The full documentary is available onlinenow at wpt.org/velphillips.

(continued from page 1)

Vel Phillips celebrates her birthday withshowing of documentary on her life asa local civil rights and political icon

“This documentarybrought out what an unbelievably remarkableperson she is … the perseverance, the endurance...“It [Phillips’ sacrifices] put such humanity behind her accomplishments.”

--author Jerrianne Hayslett

Civil Rights and political pioneer Vel Phillips receives a standing ovationafter the viewing of the documentary on here life and career at the Wis-consin Black Historical Society/Museum. (Photo by Yvonne Kemp)

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 3Y O U R M i l w a u k e e C o m m u n i t y J o u r n a l ’ s B l a c k H i s t o r y E d i t i o n

AS QUIET AS IT’S KEPT...AS QUIET AS IT’S KEPT...“OurStory” that you rarely (if ever) hear us--or anyone else--talk about

“Until the lion writes his own story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter!”--African Proverb

There were 3,959Black people lynched inthe United States be-tween 1877 and 1950—a number that is 700more than previouslyknown—and Georgia,Mississippi and Louisianahad more lynchings than any other statein the country.

These revelations are contained in an astounding new reportby the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative that attempts toplace this horrid form of American racial terrorism in its properhistorical context as a tool of white supremacy that had a pro-found impact on the nation.

The report, called “Lynching in America: Confronting theLegacy of Racial Terror,” ties lynching to a broader picture ofwhite social control, showing how lynchings affected African-American migration patterns, effectively turning many Southerncommunities from predominantly Black to overwhelminglywhite virtually overnight and sending millions of Black peopleto the cities of the North to escape this terrorism. It is a signifi-cantly more nuanced view of how whites used lynching to serveparticular purposes—and how lynchings were a seldom-dis-cussed driver of the Great Migration of Black people to theNorth.

Provocatively, the report suggests that it was the impositionof capital punishment that brought a reduction in the number oflynchings in the South—basically the nation replaced this formof terrorism that government quietly sanctioned with a more of-ficial means of killing Black people. More than eight in 10American lynchings between 1889 and 1918 occurred in theSouth, according to the report, and more than eight in 10 of thenearly 1,400 legal executions carried out in this country since1976 have been in the South.

“That the death penalty’s roots are sunk deep in the legacy oflynching is evidenced by the fact that public executions to mol-lify the mob continued after the practice was legally banned,”the report states.

In addition to killing thousands, helping to marginalize Blackpeople in the country’s political, economic, and social systemsand fueling a massive migration out of the South, the EJI says“lynching—and other forms of racial terrorism—inflicted deeptraumatic and psychological wounds on survivors, witnesses,family members, and the entire African-American community.

Whites who participated in or witnessed gruesome lynchingsand socialized their children in this culture of violence also werepsychologically damaged. And state officials’ indifference toand complicity in lynchings created enduring national and in-stitutional wounds that we have not yet confronted or begun toheal.”

The EJI calls in the report for the establishment of monumentsand memorials to commemorate lynching victims, which thegroup says “has the power to end the silence and inaction thathave compounded this psycho-social trauma and to begin theprocess of recovery.”

“The absence of a prominent public memorial acknowledgingracial terrorism is a powerful statement about our failure to valuethe African Americans who were killed or gravely wounded inthis brutal campaign of racial violence,” the report states. “Na-tional commemoration of the atrocities inflicted on AfricanAmericans during decades of racial terrorism would begin build-ing trust between the survivors of racial terrorism and the gov-ernments and legal systems that failed to protect them.”

The EJI defines lynchings as acts of terrorism “because thesemurders were carried out with impunity, sometimes in broaddaylight, often ‘on the courthouse lawn,’” according to the re-port. “These lynchings were not ‘frontier justice,’ because theygenerally took place in communities where there was a func-tioning criminal justice system that was deemed too good forAfrican Americans.

Terror lynchings were horrific acts of violence whose perpe-trators were never held accountable. Indeed, some ‘public spec-tacle lynchings’ were attended by the entire white communityand conducted as celebratory acts of racial control and domina-tion.”

How likely was the Black community to get assistance fromthe federal government during this reign of terror? Not likely.This was President Theodore Roosevelt’s take on the subject:“The greatest existing cause of lynching is the perpetration, es-pecially by Black men, of the hideous crime of rape,” Rooseveltsaid.

Not only did the EJI find evidence of 700 more lynching thanpreviously thought, but over a period of four years the EJI staffspent thousands of hours documenting where lynchings actuallyoccurred in the 12 most active lynching states in America: Ala-bama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mis-sissippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas andVirginia. The result is the most detailed accounting of this horridsystem ever collected.

In these 12 states, this is how the lynchings were brokendown:

Georgia 586Mississippi 576Louisiana 540Arkansas 503Texas 376Florida 331Alabama 326Tennessee 225South Carolina 164Kentucky 154North Carolina 102Virginia 76Total 3959The EJI even catalogued them by county. These

were the top 10 counties for lynching:1. Phillips, AR 2432. Caddo, LA 543. Lafourche, LA 504. Tensas, LA 405. Ouachita, LA 356. Orange, FL 347. Bossier, LA 328. Marion, FL 309. Jefferson, AL 2910. Dallas, AL 25The EJI divided lynchings into six different

types: (1) lynchings that resulted from a wildly dis-torted fear of interracial sex; (2) lynchings in re-sponse to casual social transgressions; (3)lynchings based on allegations of serious violent

crime; (4) public spectacle lynchings;(5) lynchings that escalated intolarge-scale violence targeting the en-tire African-American community;and (6) lynchings of sharecroppers,ministers and community leaderswho resisted mistreatment, whichwere most common between 1915and 1940.

The first category, lynchings basedon usually spurious charges of sexualassault, was the most common. Ac-cording to the EJI, nearly 25 percentof the lynchings of Black people inthe South were based on charges ofinterracial sexual assault.

“The mere accusation of rape, evenwithout an identification by the al-leged victim, could arouse a lynchmob,” the EJI writes. “The definitionof Black-on-white ‘rape’ in the Southrequired no allegation of force be-cause white institutions, laws, andmost white people rejected the idea

that a white woman would willingly consent to sex with anAfrican-American man.”

As examples, the report describes what happened in 1889, inAberdeen, Mississippi, when Keith Bowen allegedly tried toenter a room where three white women were sitting. No moreserious transgression was alleged against him. That was it—heentered a room. Bowen was lynched by the “entire (white)neighborhood” for his “offense,” the report states.

In the case of General Lee, he was lynched by a white mob in1904 for merely knocking on the door of a white woman’s housein Reevesville, South Carolina.

In 1912, Thomas Miles was lynched for allegedly inviting awhite woman to have a cold drink with him.

The descriptions of the public spectacle lynchings in the re-port are particularly disturbing.

“Large crowds of white people, often numbering in the thou-sands and including elected officials and prominent citizens,gathered to witness pre-planned, heinous killings that featuredprolonged torture, mutilation, dismemberment, and/or burningof the victim,” the report says. “White press justified and pro-moted these carnival-like events, with vendors selling food,printers producing postcards featuring photographs of the lynch-ing and corpse, and the victim’s body parts collected as sou-venirs. These killings were bold, public acts that implicated theentire community and sent a message that African-Americans

What to do ifsomeone asks:“Why isn’t therea White HistoryMonth?”By Blair L.M. Kelly--thegrio.com, reprinted fromthe Feb. 13, 2013 edtion of theCommunity Journal

Every February 1st, it happens likeclockwork. Folks complain.

On Twitter and Facebook, in idlechatter before meetings and aroundthe water cooler someone wondersaloud why there has to be a BlackHistory Month.

People write letters to editors de-crying that they have to explain totheir children why there is no WhiteHistory Month.” Then they insist thatif the idea of white history month isracist, thenBlack historymonth must beracist too.

Many ofthese conver-sations do notend well.

As a histo-rian of AfricanAmerican his-tory I couldget upset atthese com-ments. I couldsuggest thatthey survivethe middlepassage, en-dure intergen-e r a t i o n a lslavery, fightfor emancipa-tion, and starttheir own his-tory organiza-tion in themidst of JimCrow segrega-tion.

Theny theycan honortheir own his-tory makerswho were ig-nored byma ins t r e amhistory books.They can fol-low that up bygetting towork planningannual confer-ences to en-courge moreresearch andunearth newgenerations ofscholars.

Then if theycan keep thattradition alivefor almost a hundred years they’ll beable to pick a month to celebrate thathistory to remember what’s been ac-complished and reflect on what moreneeds to be done.

But I don’t.When I’m asked about Black His-

tory Month, I usually tell them aboutits founder, Carter G. Woodson.

Woodson, the second AfricanAmerican to graduate with a Ph.D. inhistory from Harvard University, be-

(continued on page 8)

“At its best,historyshould re-quire us to rethink thethings wethink weknow. Insteadof plugging inthe names ofgreat Blackmen andwomen, thishistoryshould challenge us.It should explore theways that ordinary people helpedto shape theirworld. Goodhistory reshapes assumptions.It forces us tolearn frompast failures,reassess ourachieve-ments, andre-imaginewhat is possible.”

Dr. Woodson

“STRANGE FRUIT”...REVISITEDNew Report Compiles A Devastating Count of Nearly 4,000 Lynchings of Black People in the

US, Showing This Form of White Terrorism Had Profound Impact on American HistoryArticle courtesy Nick Chiles of Atlanta Black Star.com

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swingin'in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hangin' fromthe poplar trees...”

--Excerpt from Billie Holiday’ssong, “Strange Fruit”

(continued on page 8)

THETHEMILWAUKEEMILWAUKEECOMMUNITYCOMMUNITYJOURNALJOURNALPublished twice weekly,Wednesday & Friday3612 North Martin LutherKing Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53212Phone: 414-265-5300 (Advertising and Administration) • 414-265-6647 (Editorial) • Website: communityjournal.net • Email: Editorial@communi-tyjournal.net/Advertising@communityjournal.net

Opinion and comments expressed on the Perspectives page do not nec-essarily reflect the views of the publisher or management of the MCJ. Let-ters and “other perspectives” are accepted but may be edited for content

MCJ STAFF:Patricia O’Flynn -PattilloPublisher, CEORobert J. ThomasAssoc. PublisherTodd Thomas, Vice Pres.Mikel Holt, Assoc. PublisherThomas E. Mitchell, Jr., EditorTeretha Martin, Technical Consultant/Webmaster BillingDept./Publisher’s Admin. Assist.

Colleen Newsom,Classified AdvertisingJimmy V. Johnson, Sales Rep.CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:Taki S. Raton, Richard G. Carter,Fr. Carl Diederichs, Rev. JoeMcLinPHOTOGRAPHER: Yvonne Kemp

At its headquarters, 69Fifth Avenue, New YorkCity, the NAACP flew aflag to report lynchings,until, in 1938, the threatof losing its lease forcedthe association to dis-continue the practice.--Source:Memory.loc.gov

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 4

In Loving Memory

Quality Service...a tenured tradition

sincere concern at your time of need.

Offering pre-need, at need andafter-care services to families inMilwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and

other communities throughout our state.

Anthony, Bettye V.Age 75 yrs. February 23, 2015. Beloved mother ofAlexis (Alvin)McKinney and Audra(Tyrone)Hilliard.Also survived by 2 grandchildren and a host ofother loving relatives and friends. Funeral serviceswill be held on Saturday, March 7 at 11AM atGreater Mount Zion Baptist Church 2479 N. Sher-man Blvd. Instate Saturday 10AM at the CHURCHuntil time of services. Visitation Friday 3-7PM(Fam-ily will receive guest from 6-7PM) at:Northwest Funeral ChapelO'Bee, Ford & Frazier6630 W. Hampton Ave. (414)462-6020

Banks, AdellAge 85 yrs. February 19, 2015. Funeral serviceswill be held on Wednesday, February 25 at 11AMat Greater Galilee Baptist Church 2432 N. TeutoniaAve. Visitation Wednesday 10AM at the CHURCHuntil time of services. The family is served by:Northwest Funeral ChapelO'Bee, Ford & Frazier6630 W. Hampton Ave. (414)462-6020

Canada, MaxineAge 77 yrs. February 20, 2015. Funeral serviceswill be held on Saturday, February 28 at 11AM atHoly Temple Baptist Church 4245 N. 60th St. Visita-tion Saturday 10AM at the CHURCH until time ofservices. The family is served by:Northwest Funeral ChapelO'Bee, Ford & Frazier6630 W. Hampton Ave.Milwaukee, WI 53218

Barr, ClemistineAge 60 yrs. February 21, 2015. Funeral serviceswill be held on Saturday, February 28 at 11AM atNorthside COG 4858 N. 19th St. Visitation Saturday9AM at the CHURCH until time of services. Thefamily is served by:Northwest Funeral ChapelO'Bee, Ford & Frazier6630 W. Hampton Ave. (414)462-6020

J.C. Frazier, Funeral Director

Milwaukee6630 W. Hampton Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53218

Telephone: (414) 462-6020Fax: (414) 462-9937

Racine800 Barker St. Racine, WI 53402

Telephone: (262) 637-6400Fax: (262) 637-6416

Families served by:Northwest Funeral Chapel O’Bee, Ford & Frazier

Ernestine O’Bee, Founder

Members of the Dontre Hamilton family were among the honorees at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church’s annual Black History Program heldSunday at the church, located at 2033 W. Congress St. The keynote speaker was Bevan Baker, city of Milwaukee Health Commissioner. Aboveare the honorees and event coordinator Will Moore (standing far left). (Seated from left to right): Venora Young, the Hamilton family membersNate Hamilton, mother Maria Hamilton, and Dameion Perkins; Shernice Pierce. Standing next to Moore are honorees (left to right): NebrittHerring, Bevan Baker, Gen. Robert Cocoroft, and Jennifer Beamon. Missing from the photo is Racine Police Chief Art Howell, that city’s firstBlack chief of police. Rev. Steven Harris is pastor at Antioch, which was founded by Rev. Dr. Louis S. Beauchamp.(Photo by Yvonne Kemp)

In honor of Black History Month, and in recognition of the 26th National African American Read-In, Ald. Milele Coggs sponsored a Read-In at Martin Luther King Library, 310 W. Locust St. The goal of the event was to make the celebration of African American literacy a tra-ditional part of Black History Month activities, and parents were encouraged to attend with their children. Coggs (third from left) wasjoined by community leaders and city officials (from left to right): Tracey Dent, Jafar Banda, Coggs, Milwaukee City Treasurer SpencerCoggs, Orlando Owens, and Bria Grant. The alderman and guest readers read children’s books by and about African Americans. (Photo by Yvonne Kemp)

Antioch MBC holds annual Black History program

Ald. Coggs hosts Black History Month Read-In

www.commun i t y j ou rna l . ne t

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 5“If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”

--Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black history month

www.commun i t y j ou rna l . ne t

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 6 The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 7

Standing Upfor StudentsBy Michael Bonds-MPS Board President

In just a few weeks, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau willunveil its view of the financial impact of Governor Scott Walker’sproposed biennial budget.

Educators around Wisconsin already have a clear idea of the im-pact the Governor’s budget will have on education, and it’s devas-tating.

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts $150 of per pupil aid inthe first year of his budget for a total reduction of $127 million toschool districts in the state.

In addition to this straight cut, school districts also will not receiveany inflationary increase to help manage increasing costs.

For Milwaukee Public Schools, the per pupil cut decreases fund-ing by $12.1 million and the lack of inflationary increases amountsto another $11 million for a total reduction of $23.1 million in fund-ing from the current school year.

This week the Milwaukee Board of School Directors will con-sider an important statement on behalf of the children of Milwaukee.

MPS Board member Larry Miller, who represents Board District5, is sponsoring a resolution to make sure Governor Walker and theWisconsin Legislator know about the concerns the MilwaukeeBoard of School Directors has about the Governor’s proposedbudget.

Director Miller’s resolution points out how MPS will be harmedby the Governor’s plan and the dollars that would be lost at a criticaltime when MPS is making progress improving student achieve-ment.

The resolution also makes an important observation, one thatother districts are also making – Governor Walker never mentionedthe cut to public schools during his budget address, which was tel-evised across the state of Wisconsin.

Governor Walker did note the state will allocate $319 in school-levy credits and increased general aid. But because there is no cor-responding increase in the revenue limit, these dollars won’t beavailable for schools to meet increasing educational costs.

The dollars will help to lower property taxes about $5 a year forthe average homeowner, but this slight reduction comes at the ex-pense of maintaining and building quality educational systems forWisconsin’s future.

In Director Miller’s resolution, which I will support, the Boardwill join with other school districts and strongly encourage the Gov-ernor and the Wisconsin State Legislature to increase funding forpublic education. This would mean restoring the cuts the Governorhas proposed and providing for inflationary revenue increases inboth years of the biennial budget.

Other school districts around the state are also drafting similarresolutions expressing their concern and calling on legislators to re-store adequate funding to public schools.

Already some legislators, including Republican members of theGovernor’s own party, have balked at these cuts to public education.We would ask these representatives to do more than be concerned.

We need these legislators to listen to the voice of board members,parents and students around Wisconsin and act to restore adequatefunding to public schools.

SPECIAL Y&E COMMENTARY

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 7

LOVE IS... The Small StuffBees making honeyDaddy playing hop-scotchSpoon-feeding grandma soupKiss on the cheek when she issleepingCandy left on the pillowMother nursing her babyShowing up when you don’twant to attendServing breakfast in bedCelebrating his accomplish-mentsCompromising when you wantthe victorySeeking faith through failureListening when you want tospeakProviding a shoulder when youwant to leanAccepting her differencesBeing the bigger personZelda Corona“Vision Represents Faith”

Scripture Says…The three most prolific religionsin the world are Christianity,

Islam and Judaism. Althougheach is diverse in their own wayand rightly so, they share onecommon thread: What God saysabout the greatest human emo-tion, the greatest human act, thegreatest gift we give to othersand to ourselves: LOVE. Love is not haste, never envi-ous, never boastful nor does itkeep records of wrong doing.Corinthians 13Those that keep their faith andact right, verily Allah loves thosewho act right. Quran 3:76You are not to take vengeanceor retain anger against another,but be loving instead. Torah19:16-18We need to wake up everybodyand stop the segregation amongfaiths…Love is what we all havein common. God is God regard-less. Right?Sonya Marie Bowman“It Is What It Is”Essence of LoveGrandma BBGrandma PulleyMa PulleySister June

Aunt RosieAunt MarthaAunt PhyllisThe above listed women are theRhythm and Blues of my Life. Iam the woman I am becauseof the them. No one is perfect nor do we pro-fess to be...We Love each otherthrough the ups and downs oflife. We are the Essence ofLove...Who is your Essence ofLove????Tara R. Pulley“Always Keeping It Real”

On Friday, February 20th the Nationof Islam held its Savior’s Day Banquethonoring the Milwaukee Pioneers thatstarted and maintained Mosque #3.Many people did not know that afterDetroit and Chicago that the thirdMosque representing the Nation ofIslam was established in Milwaukee.

I want to give a shout out to some ofthe brothers that I have continuouslyinteracted with over the years in the

community: Muhsim Abdullah, BasimAbdullah, and Mustapha Hameed. Iwant to give a special shout out to Mr.Brady Mc Kinley who supported myefforts when I first came to Milwaukeeand worked for the Milwaukee Com-munity Journal Newspaper. Mr.McKinley just recently celebrated his80th Birthday.

On Saturday, February 21st TheDaddy/Daughter Dance was held at

North Division High School. My sonsJabari Courtney and Akinyomi Court-ney took their daughters Naima Court-ney 4 yrs. old and Madison Courtney

7yrs old to the dance. I accompaniedmy daughter Aziza Courtney 26 yearsold that that drove me to the dance. Thedance was a huge success and was soldout. A special shout goes to PercyEddie and Homer Blow for making thisevent a great success.

Black Men and Black women this isour time to stand up and take charge ofour community by participating andcreating events that are going to helpturn our community around and bringus closer together as men and womenof African descent. On Tuesday, Feb-ruary 24th True Blue Productionsbrought to Milwaukee Dr. Umar John-son, a noted national speaker who is aparticipant on the documentaries Hid-den Colors 1,2 and 3. Dr. Johnson

spoke in front of a standing room onlycrowd at the Webster Renaissance Uni-versal Academy. I am giving a specialshout out goes to Sister Chery Blue forhosting this event.

The Men of African Descent Men’sCircle will be holding its weekly meet-ing on Monday, March 2nd at the Bodyand Soul Healing Center 3617 N. 48thSt. The topic of discussion will be”Boxed In: Male Stereotypes: (expos-ing those stereotypes that we identifywith and those imposed). The meetinggoes from 7pm to 9pm and is hosted byDemetrius Brown.

The deadline for Black men to par-

ticipate on the page “Dedicated toBlack Women That Have Black Men’sBacks, have been extended to Monday,March 10th, to allow for more brothersto participate. Brothers take the time torecognize your Grandmother, Mothers,Wives, Fiancées, Sisters, Cousins,Aunts, Business Partner, Organiza-tional Heads, Employer, Employee,etc. The cost of sponsoring each Blackwoman is $25.00. Contact Tony Court-ney at 374-2364 or come to CoffeeMakes You Black Restaurant 2803 N.Teutonia Ave from Tuesday thru Satur-day from 10am-3pm to sign up. Callfirst to see if I am there.

FROMTHEBLACKBy Tony Courtney

SISTA SPEAK...SPEAK LORD!SISTA SPEAK...SPEAK LORD!

Wisconsin Black Chamberof Commerce to hold monthlong series of luncheons

Join the discussion Saturday, March 7, 2015 at noon as the Wisconsin BlackChamber of Commerce premiers dynamic women from Milwaukee who areinvolved Nation Building during the 3000 Black Business Challenge Lunch-eon. view our upcoming TV commercial and discuss our media campaign, aswell as how this challenge will change the State of Wisconsin when it comesto black owned business. We will be joined by many of the business ownerswho will participate in supporting the challenge. We have been challenged toregister 3,000 business per year for the next four years, and we have acceptedthe challenge. It starts with you! If you are already in business or plan to starta new business, log on the www.twbcc.com today and register your business.Have your fellow business associates do the same. Once you have registeredwe will follow up with you and work with you on the next steps. (Note: Reg-istration for membership in the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc.is free of charge.) Lunch registration is $10.

From the Black colum-nist Tony Courtney “cutsa rug” with his daughterat the annualDaddy/Daughter Danceheld at North DivisionHigh School.

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 8

lieved that African Americans had tounderstand their own history in orderti effectively contest segregation anddisenfranchisement.

Inspired by the semi-centennialcelebration of the general emancipa-tion, Woodson founded the Associa-tion for the Study of Negro Life andHistory (now the Association for theStudy of African American Life andHistory) in 1915.

Woodson’s organization hosts an-nual conferences where researcherscan share their new findings. In orderto share historical discoveries withthe public at large, Woodson began topromote the celebration of NegroHistory Week in 1926.

Choosing February to coincidewith the celebration of the birthdaysof Abraham Lincoln and FrederickDouglass, Negro History Week wasWoodson’s attempt to make sure thatBlack Americans knew about therange of important figures, move-ments, and events that has shapedAfrican American’s march towardfreedom.

Popular response to the celebrationwas immediate. Negro History Weekallowed Black schools, organiztions,and churches a chance to expandtheir knowledge about Black ac-tivists, writers, artists, and the move-ments that defined their history. Overtime, these celebrations grew to be amonth-long affairs in many commu-nities, officially becoming Black His-tory Month in 1976.

And I sometimes wonder whatWoodson would think about the com-mercialization of the celebrationtoday.

For some Black History Month isjust one long game of Trivial Pursuitor a chance to sell history themed T-shirts and calendars.

The trivia version of Black HistoryMonth allows you to purchaseposters and shirts that feature imagesof Sojourner Truth alongside a pic-ture of Michael Jordan, but it doesn’trequire you to really know anythingabout either of them.

At its best, history should requireus to rethink the things we think we

know. Instead of plugging in thenames of great Black men andwomen, this history should challengeus. It should explore the ways that or-dinary people helped to shape theirworld. Good history reshapes as-sumptions. It forces us to learn frompast failures, reassess our achieve-ments, and re-imagine what is possi-ble.

Critical engagement with historyhelps unflatten all the “great” figuresof our past, and helps us understandmore about the journey of the nation.

Like Woodson, I believe that abroad understanding of Black historycan help to create a broad under-standing of American history cnahelp to create a broad understandingof American history as a whole.

So to all those who might com-plain about the celebrations this Feb-ruary, I would remind them thatBlack History Month is not a require-ment.

They can just opt out of thinkingabout history at all this month. Butfor me it’s an honor to stand on theshoulders of those who accomplished

so much. Their work has enriched usall. And if anyone wants to create ahistory celebration of their own, itsfine. I’m happy anytime history

breaks into the national conversation. But in the spirit of Woodson please

be sure not to complain, jsut get towork.

Blair L.M. Kelley is an associateprofessor at North Carolina StateUniversity.

(continued from page 3)

were sub-human, their subjugationwas to be achieved through anymeans necessary, and whites whocarried out lynchings would face nolegal repercussions.”

One of the examples cited tells thestory of Luther Holbert, who in 1904was accused of killing a local whitelandowner. A white mob capturedHolbert and a Black woman believedto be his wife and they were taken toDoddsville, Mississippi, to belynched before hundreds of white

spectators.“Both victims were tied to a tree

and forced to hold out their handswhile members of the mob methodi-cally chopped off their fingers anddistributed them as souvenirs,” thereport says. “Next, their ears were cutoff. Mr. Holbert was then beaten soseverely that his skull was fracturedand one of his eyes was left hangingfrom its socket. Members of the mobused a large corkscrew to bore holesinto the victims’ bodies and pull outlarge chunks of ‘quivering flesh,’

after which both victims were thrownonto a raging fire and burned. Thewhite men, women, and childrenpresent watched the horrific murderswhile enjoying deviled eggs, lemon-ade, and whiskey in a picnic-like at-mosphere.”

As the EJI notes, lynchings didn’t

only harm the victims of the terror—they harmed white people too.

“The psychological harm inflictedby the era of terror lynching extendsto the millions of white men, women,and children who instigated, at-tended, celebrated, and internalizedthese horrific spectacles of collective

(continued on page 12)(continued from page 3)

What to do if someone asks: “Why isn’t there a White History Month?”“STRANGE FRUIT”...REVISITED

“We should emphasize not Negro History, but theNegro in history. What we need is not a history of se-lected races or nations, but the history of the world voidof national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”

--Dr. Carter G. Woodson, 1926

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 9

were sub-human, their subjugationwas to be achieved through anymeans necessary, and whites whocarried out lynchings would face nolegal repercussions.”

One of the examples cited tells thestory of Luther Holbert, who in 1904was accused of killing a local whitelandowner. A white mob capturedHolbert and a Black woman believedto be his wife and they were taken toDoddsville, Mississippi, to belynched before hundreds of white

spectators.“Both victims were tied to a tree

and forced to hold out their handswhile members of the mob methodi-cally chopped off their fingers anddistributed them as souvenirs,” thereport says. “Next, their ears were cutoff. Mr. Holbert was then beaten soseverely that his skull was fracturedand one of his eyes was left hangingfrom its socket. Members of the mobused a large corkscrew to bore holesinto the victims’ bodies and pull outlarge chunks of ‘quivering flesh,’

after which both victims were thrownonto a raging fire and burned. Thewhite men, women, and childrenpresent watched the horrific murderswhile enjoying deviled eggs, lemon-ade, and whiskey in a picnic-like at-mosphere.”

As the EJI notes, lynchings didn’t

only harm the victims of the terror—they harmed white people too.

“The psychological harm inflictedby the era of terror lynching extendsto the millions of white men, women,and children who instigated, at-tended, celebrated, and internalizedthese horrific spectacles of collective

(continued on page 12)

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 10

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 11

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 12

violence,” the report states. “Participation in collective violence leaves per-petrators with their own dangerous and persistent damage, including harmfuldefense mechanisms such as ‘diminish[ed] empathy for victims’ that can leadto intensified violent behaviors that target victims outside the original group.Lynching was a civic duty of white Southern men that brought them praise.Southern white children were taught to embrace traumatic violence and theracist narratives underlying it.”

Demonstrating how purposeful these acts of terror were, the EJI notes thatjust eight years after a 1912 lynching in Forsyth County, Georgia—after whitevigilantes distributed leaflets demanding that all Black people leave thecounty or suffer deadly consequences—by 1920, the county’s Black popula-tion had plunged from 1,100 to just 30.

As all of these incredibly brutal acts were occurring, American governmentwas silent. Congress never passed an anti-lynching bill, instead capitulatingto Southern politicians who argued that such bills were racial “favoritism”and a violation of states’ rights. Southern states even passed their own anti-lynching laws to show the federal government that federal legislation was un-necessary—but these states refused to enforce them. In fact, during thisprolonged period, not a single white person was convicted of murder for

lynching a Black person in America and just 1 percent resulted in a lyncherbeing convicted of a criminal offense.

But African-Americans didn’t just stand idly by and take it without fightingback. There were courageous efforts to combat the lynchings through grass-roots activism.

“Black people targeted members of white lynch mobs for economic retal-iation by boycotting their businesses, refusing to work for them, and settingfire to their property,” the EJI notes. “To thwart lynching attempts, black peo-ple risked serious harm to hide fugitives, organized sentinels to guard pris-oners against lynch mobs, and engaged in armed self-defense.”

The NAACP was actually created in response to racial attacks in Spring-field, Illinois, in 1908 that shocked Northerners and demonstrated that lynch-ing was not only a Southern phenomenon.

ABOUT NICK CHILESNick Chiles, Editor-in-Chief of Atlanta BlackStar, is a Pulitzer Prize-win-

ning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. He has written orco-written 13 books and won over a dozen major journalism awards duringa journalism career that brought him to the Dallas Morning News, the Star-Ledger of New Jersey and New York Newsday, in addition to serving as Ed-itor-in-Chief of Odyssey Couleur travel magazine.

“STRANGE FRUIT”...REVISITED(continued from page 8)

NY Times White-Washed Coverage of Lynching ReportDemonstrates How Uncomfortable MainstreamMedia Is In Confronting Historyof White TerrorismArticle by Nick Chiles, BlackStar.com

In the aftermath of a devastating report on the long uglyhistory of lynchings in America, the New York Times isbeing blasted on social media for a suspiciously dubious“achievement”: the so-called “Paper of Record” managedto write a lengthy piece on the history of lynchings withoutever saying who was doing the lynching.

As many users pointed out on Twitter, the piece writtenby Campbell Robertson only mentioned the word “white”on two occasions—when she described the alleged victimsof likely fabricated indiscretions by Black men who weresubsequently lynched.

In the first case, it was a three-year-old white girl whowas allegedly sexually assaulted in Dallas that led “a groupof men” to rush into the courthouse in 1910 and throw arope around him while “a mob” yanked him from the win-dow.

In the second case, three Black men were accused ofkilling a white woman and “were castrated, stabbed, beaten,tied to a plow and set afire in the spring of 1922,” all underthe “gaze of hundreds of soda-drinking spectators.”

Not once did Robertson bother to tell the reader that the“group of men,” that the “mob,” that the “soda-drinkingspectators” were white. It’s almost as if the always cautiousTimes was not completely sure of who committed thelynchings and was waiting for officials to come along from1910 and 1922 and confirm their racial identity.

In addition, though the incredibly detailed report by theMontgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative usedthe words “white terrorism” over and over to describe theeffect of the lynchings on America and the Black commu-nity, the Times went out of its way to avoid that language,instead calling them “racial terror lynchings.”

The word “white” was used so many times in the reportby the EJI that the Times had to avoid using any passagesfrom the report in order to achieve the dubious distinction.

The white-washed nature of the Times coverage is a per-fect illustration of the discomfort the American mainstreammedia has in honestly confronting the nation’s ugly racialhistory.

For instance, when media commentators went after Pres-ident Obama for pointing out how Christianity has beenused to justify some ugly acts throughout history, such asthe Crusades, slavery and Jim Crow, they all jumped on hisuse of the Crusades while leaving slavery and Jim Crowuntouched.

In its chilling report, called “Lynching in America: Con-fronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,” the EJI certainlydoesn’t avoid assigning the title of terrorist to the whitemobs that committed unspeakable acts against Black people

through the early 20th century.The EJI defines lynchings as acts of terrorism “because

these murders were carried out with impunity, sometimesin broad daylight, often ‘on the courthouse lawn,’” accord-ing to the report.

“These lynchings were not ‘frontier justice,’ because theygenerally took place in communities where there was afunctioning criminal justice system that was deemed toogood for African Americans.

Terror lynchings were horrific acts of violence whoseperpetrators were never held accountable. Indeed, some‘public spectacle lynchings’ were attended by the entirewhite community and conducted as celebratory acts ofracial control and domination.”

The EJI said there were 3,959 Black people lynched inthe United States between 1877 and 1950—a number thatis 700 more than previously known—and Georgia, Mis-sissippi and Louisiana had more lynchings than any otherstate in the country.

The report ties lynching to a broader picture of white so-cial control, showing how lynchings affected African-American migration patterns, effectively turning manySouthern communities from predominantly Black to over-whelmingly white virtually overnight and sending millionsof Black people to the cities of the North to escape this ter-rorism.

It is a significantly more nuanced view of how whitesused lynching to serve particular purposes—and howlynchings were a seldom-discussed driver of the Great Mi-gration of Black people to the North.

“Lynching—and other forms of racial terrorism—in-flicted deep traumatic and psychological wounds on sur-vivors, witnesses, family members, and the entireAfrican-American community,” the report said.

“Whites who participated in or witnessed gruesomelynchings and socialized their children in this culture of vi-olence also were psychologically damaged. And state offi-cials’ indifference to and complicity in lynchings createdenduring national and institutional wounds that we have notyet confronted or begun to heal.”

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 13

Ekistics, Inc. is holding afundraising breakfast to cele-brate the last day of BlackHistory Month. The event willbe held Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to1 p.m. at Peace LutheranChurch, 5229 N. 51st Blvd.Donations are $6.50

Trinity Village Senior Residents facility held its Black History Month pro-gram. The theme of the event was: “A Century of Black Life, History, andCulture. There were performances by the Trinity Choir, a fashion show,and quilt, poster and book displays. Black history makers were also hon-ored. Shown above are those awardees: Clifford Hayes (second fromleft), Effie McGhee (center), and Beverly Wilson (second from right). Withthe award recipients are (far left) Alicetine Ansley and Catherine Cavalier(far right), both of Trinity Village. (Photo by Yvonne Kemp)

Black History Breakfast at PeaceLuthern Church

Trinity Village holds annual Black History observance

The Milwaukee Community Journal February 25, 2015 Page 14