Our meet-up was held on Saturday, November 14th in Valdosta, Georgia which was only 15 miles from the Florida state line. It was a perfect day with a bright blue sky, plenty of sunshine and delightful 64 degree temps.
We had no problem locating our meetup site thanks to Tom Hochschild, Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party who placed a pair of signs by the roadside to help guide us to the restaurant. Tom was there in the parking lot when I arrived which was just when the restaurant was opening. We had about a half an hour one-on-one time to chat and exchange information on what our respective Democratic Clubs were doing and I came away with a list of grand ideas to present to my Board of Directors.
We had in attendance six members of Daily Kos: PHScott, susanala, Nannyberry, LIly O Lady, jayskew and myself, JaxDem. There were four members of the Lowndes County Democratic Party in attendance — well actually five since jayskew is also a member of LCDP, but I’ve counted him in our DKos group, and our guest speaker — Dr Thomas Aiello making a grand total of eleven.
It was delightful chatting with one another and one of the LCDP members brought a roll of Bernie stickers that he passed out, he even persuaded our waitress to wear one and pass some out to other guests! Fortunately no “real” pie fights broke out. Tom Hochschild spoke for a few minutes outlining some of the most recent accomplishments of the LCDP which included convincing county and city officials to adopt resolutions opposing the Sabal Trail oil pipeline, supporting an anti-tethering ordinance, hosting a “Cash Mob” at a locally owned and operated grocery store that netted $1,200.00 and raising money and over 300 pounds of food for Second Harvest of South Georgia. Way To Go Lowndes County Democratic Party!
L-R back row: Tom Aiello, jayskew, a Lowndes County Dem, a Lowndes County Dem, PHScott. L-R front row: Nannyberry, JaxDem, susanala, Lily O Lady.
The photo to the right was taken after Dr Aiello gave his speech and just before folks began to leave.
Tom Hochschild had already left to attend a wedding and also not pictured is Gretchen, jayskew’s wife who took the photo for us. (Thank you, Gretchen).
The food was very good, the company was outstanding and the presentation by Tom Aiello was excellent. I will attempt to capsulize portions of it here to give an idea of the content and include a link to the speech for those who would like to read it all. Tom was kind enough to not only grant permission to share it in its entirety, but he saved me hours of transcription time by emailing it to me.
The speech is entitled:
Black Lives Have Always Mattered: The History Behind Contemporary Racial Controversies
If such arguments [Confederate Flag] sound familiar, they should. They are very similar to arguments like: if you make a law to improve gun safety, then pretty soon they’ll be coming to take our guns. If you make gay marriage legal, that’s like making our straight marriages less legal. OR HALF A CENTURY EARLIER: If you let black kids into the white school, you’re only going to hurt white education. If you give black people the right to vote, you’re going to invalidate our white votes. OR A CENTURY AND A HALF EARLIER: If you outlaw slavery in the territories, then pretty soon they’ll be coming to take our slaves in the South. If you try to end slavery in the South, you’re really taking away a state’s right to decide such issues. They are all the same. It’s a zero sum game mindset that has defined white southern conservative thought for literally centuries, always to the detriment of those who are not white, male, hetero, and violent. THAT is the heritage they are defending, and that is why they don’t understand that such heritage claims are out of the norm. Because those claims, all bigoted, have been made since there was a South.
Of course, one of the dominant racial movements running parallel to the battle over the Confederate flag is the successful Black Lives Matter movement that arose in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the embarrassing overreaction of law enforcement to the protests of local black citizens who felt they weren’t being policed fairly. And of course that, in turn, caused white southern conservatives offense at hearing “black lives matter” and caused them to co-opt, neuter, and mitigate the movement with its “all lives matter” counter. Again, it’s a zero sum game. Saying that your lives matter MUST mean that they matter more than ours. Thus all lives matter.
(Again, however, I want to mention that even though those saying such things are participating in something fundamentally racist, most of them aren’t atavistic racists. As we have seen, the zero sum game lie is the legacy of white southern conservative culture. This is what has redounded to them. It is aggression with the intention of self-defense, and its history is as old as that of white privilege.)
In many of its elements, these accounts [rioting in Watts, Los Angeles/Rodney King, Ferguson and Baltimore] are good faith efforts to report on events that reporters simply don’t understand. But with the glaring similarity in coverage, dating back to 1943, it is easy to comprehend those who argue that there is something more systemic and intentional at work here. I will, however, leave intent claims to media theorists. Indicting the intentions of the media is a rag well worn. More important for us is the fact that such coverage props up the zero sum game lie. Black anger over inequality can lead to protest, protest can lead to rioting, rioting can lead to violence, violence to looting and hooliganism, and thus can threaten the safety of everyone else. Even those who aren’t in any way atavistic in their racism are going to leave this coverage shocked and afraid. When that line is drawn, racial stability becomes an either/or proposition, conceding to the looters and hooligans becomes an insult to those who channeled their anger more peacefully, and we once again have a reason not to respond to legitimate black anger. That’s why Black Lives Matter is important. That’s why responses to police brutality and the disproportionate application of official violence to black bodies are important. That’s why explaining the racism of the Confederate flag is important. Because history has answers to these questions, but when mainstream white culture is the culprit in the narrative, media representations often confuse as much as they clarify, which makes everyone a victim, perpetuates racism even among those who aren’t atavistic racists, and gives credence to the zero sum lie.
Here is the link to the speech: Black Lives Have Always Mattered: The History Behind Contemporary Racial Controversies . You will note that there are cues [SLIDE] for the powerpoint presentation that he couldn’t use at our meeting venue but I have intentionally left in as I am also providing the link to the slides: Black Lives Powerpoint.
Many thanks to all who attended and to Vetwife, ZenTrainer and especially navajo for all the moral support along the way.