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Black Kos: The Montgomery Bus Boycott. They didn't have social media; they had a mimeograph machine [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-05
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Today we celebrate the history, and success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which began December 5, 1955 with a call for a one-day boycott of buses by the Women's Political Council.
x This is part of the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that is often forgotten:
https://t.co/HSsUg8kJ61 — Denise Oliver-Velez 💛 (@Deoliver47) December 5, 2023
I remember teaching this history in a Women’s Studies class, and my students had no idea what a mimeograph machine was. At a time when far too many people think that “organizing” is posting to TwitX, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook — it’s important to examine how this victory was won, and to credit those people who made it happen.
I found a slew of Rosa Parks social media posts today, and of course those crediting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr. but barely any mentions of the women who made it happen. ‘
This is an excellent video on the history you rarely hear about.
x YouTube Video
x Jo Ann Robinson faced verbal abuse for sitting in the empty white section of a bus, she became a major player in Montgomery bus boycotts. What, y’all thought it was just Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin? I’m gonna keep sharing what history books aren’t. #FreshVoicesRise #RaiseAFist pic.twitter.com/AdRrrRQjzg — LanaQuest aka RosaSparks (@LqLana) May 23, 2021
Jo Ann Robinson: A Heroine of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Born on April 17, 1912, in Culloden, Georgia, Robinson distinguished herself early as the valedictorian of her high school class, went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college, and then fulfilled her dream of becoming a teacher. She taught in the Macon, Georgia, public schools for fives years while earning a master's degree from Atlanta University. She also pursued English studies at Columbia University in New York City. She moved to Montgomery in 1949 to teach at Alabama State College. In Montgomery, she became active in the Women's Political Council (WPC), a local civic organization for African American professional women that was dedicated to fostering women's involvement in civic affairs, increasing voter registration in the city's black community, and aiding women who were victims of rape of assault. If you can get a copy, strongly suggest you read Robinson’s memoir:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It. The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ignited the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, has always been vitally important in southern and black history. With the publication of this book, the boycott becomes a milestone in the history of American women as well. Review by Keith D. Miller and Elizabeth Vander Lei Arizona State University: Jo Ann Robinson, a major organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, offers a new and convincing account of the origins of the protest that triggered the entire civil rights movement and launched the career of Martin Luther King, Jr. In an absorbing, first·hand narrative, the dignified and unassuming Robinson focuses on the role of the Women's Political Council (WPC) and details the WPC's plans to engineer a boycott months before the heralded arrest of Rosa Parks. Although the Parks arrest has been universally understood as the spark that ignited the boycott, Robinson and other WPC leaders had negotiated with recalcitrant city officials over the issue of bus seating long before the boycott began. Disturbed by a series of racial incidents on city buses, the black community experienced new depths of frustration and alarm when police jailed a teenager named CIaudette Colvin. Parks's arrest mattered because it constituted, in Robinson's words, "almost a repeat performance of the Claudette Colvin case." Immediately following the Parks arrest, and without consulting Parks, Robinson and the WPC mimeographed and distributed over fifty-two thousand leaflets that mentioned the name of Colvin but not Parks and urged a one-day abandonment of public transportation. The success of this initial action led to the formation of a separate organization to supervise the boycott, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which elected King as its president. During the year long boycott, Robinson joined other MIA representatives in negotiating with city fathers. Her copious notes of meetings allow Robinson to provide an accurate first-hand chronicle of events reported by journalists from around the globe. She describes the initial solidarity of the black community, the growing frustration during prolonged negotiations, and the hope imparted by donations sent to the MIA from Americans and foreigners alike. She also discusses the MIA's remarkable efficiency in coordinating a car pool large enough to enable fifty thousand boycotters to stay off buses indefinitely. {...] In conjunction with Aldon Morris's The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement, this book effectively refutes the common perception of the Montgomery bus boycott as a spontaneous event inaugurated by a single arrest and extended by the charisma of a single leader. Without slighting Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King, Jr., Robinson demonstrates the critical importance of her grassroots women's organization in instigating and sustaining the protest Excerpt from Robinson’s book posted on Historical Thinking Matters: I sat down and quickly drafted a message and then called a good friend and colleague... who had access to the college’s mimeograph equipment. When I told him that the WPC was staging a boycott and needed to run off the notices, he told me that he too had suffered embarrassment on the city buses.... Along with two of my most trusted senior students, we quickly agreed to meet almost immediately, in the middle of the night, at the college’s duplicating room. We were able to get three messages to a page... in order to produce the tens of thousands of leaflets we knew would be needed. By 4 a.m. Friday, the sheets had been duplicated, cut in thirds, and bundled.... Between 4 and 7 a.m., the two students and I mapped out distribution routes for the notices. Some of the WPC officers previously had discussed how and where to deliver thousands of leaflets announcing a boycott, and those plans now stood me in good stead.... After class my two students and I quickly finalized our plans for distributing the thousands of leaflets so that one would reach every black home in Montgomery. I took out the WPC membership roster and called [them].... I alerted all of them to the forthcoming distribution of the leaflets, and enlisted their aid in speeding and organizing the distribution network.... Throughout the late morning and early afternoon hours we dropped off tens of thousands of leaflets. Some of our bundles were dropped off at schools.... Leaflets were also dropped off at business places, storefronts, beauty parlors, beer halls, factories, barber shops, and every other available place. Workers would pass along notices both to other employees as well as to customers.... By 2 o’clock thousands of the mimeographed handbills had changed hands many times. Practically every black man, woman, and child in Montgomery knew the plan and was passing the word along.... If you’ve never watched videos from Crash Course Black American History they are a great account to follow and share. Here’s their take on the Boycott.
x YouTube Video
How it ended:
On June 5, 1956, a three-judge U.S. District Court ruled 2-1 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. The majority cited Brown v. Board of Education as a legal precedent for desegregation and concluded, “In fact, we think that Plessy v. Ferguson has been impliedly, though not explicitly, overruled,…there is now no rational basis upon which the separate but equal doctrine can be validly applied to public carrier transportation...” The city of Montgomery appealed the U.S. District Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and continued to practice segregation on city busing. For nearly a year, buses were virtually empty in Montgomery. Boycott supporters walked to work--as many as eight miles a day--or they used a sophisticated system of carpools with volunteer drivers and dispatchers. Some took station-wagon "rolling taxis" donated by local churches. Montgomery City Lines lost between 30,000 and 40,000 bus fares each day during the boycott. The bus company that operated the city busing had suffered financially from the seven month long boycott and the city became desperate to end the boycott. Local police began to harass King and other MIA leaders. Car pool drivers were arrested and taken to court for petty traffic violations. Despite all the harassment, the boycott remained over 90% successful. African Americans took pride in the inconveniences caused by limited transportation. One elderly African American woman replied that, “My soul has been tired for a long time. Now my feet are tired, and my soul is resting.” The promise of equality declared in Brown v. Board of Education for Montgomery African Americans helped motivate them to continue the boycott. The company reluctantly desegregated its buses only after November 13, 1956, when the Supreme Court ruled Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Efforts at reforming the justice system have been mixed. The disparity between Black and white rates of incarceration dropped by 40% between 2000 and 2020, according to a September 2022 report by the Council on Criminal Justice. Associated Press: America’s Black attorneys general discuss race, politics and the justice system
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The American legal system is facing a crisis of trust in communities around the country, with people of all races and across the political spectrum.
For many, recent protests against police brutality called attention to longstanding discrepancies in the administration of justice. For others, criticism of perceived conflicts of interest in the judiciary, as well as aspersions cast by former President Donald Trump and others on the independence of judges and law enforcement, have further damaged faith in the rule of law among broad swaths of the public.
Yet many Black attorneys understood the disparate impact the legal system can have on different communities long before the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. Many pursued legal careers and entered that same system to improve it, with some rising to one of its most influential roles, the top enforcement official: attorney general.
There is a record number of Black attorneys general, seven in total, serving today. Two Black attorneys, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, have served as U.S. attorney general. And the vice president, Kamala Harris, was the first Black woman elected attorney general.
In that same moment of increased representation, the U.S. is gripped by intense debates regarding justice, race and democracy. Black prosecutors have emerged as central figures litigating those issues, highlighting the achievements and limits of Black communal efforts to reform the justice system.
Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts AG
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During an in-depth interview with a white magazine, the rock legend wondered why Black media outlets have ignored his success. The Grio: Why did Black media cancel Lenny Kravitz? An investigation.
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I just assumed that everyone loved Kravitz. His catalog spans a quarter of a century and multiple genres, including classic rock, pop, hard rock, ballads and collabs with hip-hop GOATS. Women think he’s fine. Men admire him for winning four Grammys and a Huxtable. I imagine that he is beloved by scarf manufacturers for singlehandedly propping up the boa industry. Because of the song “Cause I Love You,” I’m sure Kravitz understands why Mr. Williams remains atop the “Lenny” rankings.
But, according to Esquire, Black America’s second-ranked Lenny feels slighted.
In a cover profile that coincides with the release of Kravitz’s 12th studio album, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington and other Black icons wax poetic about the impact and legacy of the writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. But, despite selling more albums than DaBaby, Lil Baby and Bhad Bhabie combined, Lenny Kravitz has never been invited to a single BET or Soul Train Award show.
Buried in the 6,897 words written by a white woman interspersed by photographs shot by a white man showing a Kravitz wearing clothes designed by white people, the celebrated musician lamented his lack of support from the Black community. Specifically, he can’t understand why his success “is not celebrated by the folks who run [Black] publications or organizations,”….
As someone who has also never received an invitation to the Stellar Awards or a write-up in the Source Magazine, I understand Kravitz’s complaint. Sure, I don’t sing gospel music and I’ve never made a rap song but I also don’t know what the hell Kravitz would do at the Source Awards. The Soul Train Awards doesn’t even have a rock category and the last time Kravitz had a song on the top 40 Hip Hop /R&B charts, the BET Awards didn’t exist. Eminem appeared in multiple BET Hip Hop Awards cyphers because he is a hip-hop artist but haters like y’all insist on bringing facts and logic into this emotional argument. Iggy Azalea was nominated best new female hip-hop artist because … OK, I can’t explain that one, but still …
Having worked in Black media for most of my career, I can assure you that there is not a single Black-centric outlet that would reject Kravitz if he wanted to appear at one of these celebrations. Most Black publications would kill for an exclusive interview with someone like Kravitz. Most of the platforms he references have published stories on the Black origins of rock and roll. I know because I have written some of them.
Lenny Kravitz
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Guy Philippe, who helped lead the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, is back in the politically unstable country after serving time in a U.S. prison. Miami Herald: U.S. deports former coup leader, convicted drug trafficker Guy Philippe back to Haiti
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One of Haiti’s most controversial figures is back in his troubled homeland after being deported from the United States on Thursday.
Guy Philippe, the former Haitian police commander who led a rebellion in 2004 that overthrew President Jean Bertrand Aristide and then spent nearly a dozen years evading U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, arrived aboard a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight along with more than a dozen others deportees. The flight departed from Alexandria, Louisiana, at 5:57 a.m. and arrived in Haiti at 9:49 a.m.
Philippe’s presence was confirmed by the Office of National Migration, which is tasked with receiving deportees returned to Haiti. Upon landing, he was immediately taken into custody by the Haiti’s judicial police.
The ICE flight is the latest deportation trip by the Biden administration, which has been asked by immigration advocates and the United Nations to halt all deportations to Haiti, given the country’s ongoing armed gang and humanitarian crisis.
Tom Cartwright, a refugee advocate who tracks U.S. deportation flights, says despite the demands, Haiti has been averaging about one ICE flight per month since last December, usually with fewer than 50 people onboard. Since President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration, the U.S. has deported more than 27,200 Haitians back to their country, said Cartwright, who added that Thursday’s flight is the 289th ICE deportation flight under this administration.
Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a San Diego-based immigrant rights group that works with U.S. asylum seekers, said Philippe’s deportation makes no sense in the current context, which includes the Biden administration’s support for an armed force from Kenya to be deployed to Haiti to help the Caribbean nation’s fragile police force combat gangs.
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A top U.S. intelligence official presented a detailed proposal to the leaders of Congo and Rwanda last week for a pact to reduce fighting in eastern Congo — and promised to help enforce the deal. The leaders largely signed off on the U.S. plan, which included commitments for Rwanda to pull back its forces and offensive military equipment by Jan. 1 and for Congo to ground its drones, according to a readout of the meetings. The readout shows that the U.S. is playing a much more active role than previously disclosed in trying to calm tensions in the increasingly volatile region, where conflict between Congolese forces and rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda is threatening to escalate into all-out war between the countries.
The Biden administration previously said that Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines flew to the region last week to “secure commitments” from Congolese and Rwandan leaders to deescalate fighting and that they “plan to take specific steps to reduce current tensions.” But the administration did not disclose the extent to which the U.S. was designing and overseeing the plan.
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Voices & Soul
by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Poetry Editor
Both of my sisters were raped by the time they were sophomores in high school. The younger one was raped twice more by the time she graduated. They don't mind that I mention these facts. They have counseled young girls and women on rape, and we all volunteered at rape and suicide crisis call-in centers when we were in our teens and early twenties.
Initially, my sisters were reluctant in letting me know they’d been attacked, for fear I would find the perps and have a murder charge over my head. But we were raised to let the law handle it. So I let the law run its course.
I’ve been really perturbed about the horrendous news of the Hamas attacks and the age-old terror of rape to terrorize a population, but I’m even more angry at so-called allies who are now equivocating, who are now apologizing for that terror because of some ill-conceived idea about liberation, about the need for retribution over wrongs exacted.
It’s bull. There is no apologizing for Bibi’s heavy handedness, and the deaths he has caused in this rage over the Hamas attacks. He will be dealt with and the law will run its course because ninety percent of Israelis will see to it. And to our so-called allies, equivocating and dissembling, there is no apologizing for rape in any context, at any time and for any reason. You have shown us who you are, we believe it. And you will find out.
Even tonight and I need to take a walk and clear my head about this poem about why I can’t go out without changing my clothes my shoes my body posture my gender identity my age my status as a woman alone in the evening/ alone on the streets/alone not being the point/ the point being that I can’t do what I want to do with my own body because I am the wrong sex the wrong age the wrong skin and suppose it was not here in the city but down on the beach/ or far into the woods and I wanted to go there by myself thinking about God/or thinking about children or thinking about the world/all of it disclosed by the stars and the silence: I could not go and I could not think and I could not stay there alone as I need to be alone because I can’t do what I want to do with my own body and who in the hell set things up like this and in France they say if the guy penetrates but does not ejaculate then he did not rape me and if after stabbing him if after screams if after begging the bastard and if even after smashing a hammer to his head if even after that if he and his buddies fuck me after that then I consented and there was no rape because finally you understand finally they fucked me over because I was wrong I was wrong again to be me being me where I was/wrong to be who I am which is exactly like South Africa penetrating into Namibia penetrating into Angola and does that mean I mean how do you know if Pretoria ejaculates what will the evidence look like the proof of the monster jackboot ejaculation on Blackland and if after Namibia and if after Angola and if after Zimbabwe and if after all of my kinsmen and women resist even to self-immolation of the villages and if after that we lose nevertheless what will the big boys say will they claim my consent: Do You Follow Me: We are the wrong people of the wrong skin on the wrong continent and what in the hell is everybody being reasonable about and according to the Times this week back in 1966 the C.I.A. decided that they had this problem and the problem was a man named Nkrumah so they killed him and before that it was Patrice Lumumba and before that it was my father on the campus of my Ivy League school and my father afraid to walk into the cafeteria because he said he was wrong the wrong age the wrong skin the wrong gender identity and he was paying my tuition and before that it was my father saying I was wrong saying that I should have been a boy because he wanted one/a boy and that I should have been lighter skinned and that I should have had straighter hair and that I should not be so boy crazy but instead I should just be one/a boy and before that it was my mother pleading plastic surgery for my nose and braces for my teeth and telling me to let the books loose to let them loose in other words I am very familiar with the problems of the C.I.A. and the problems of South Africa and the problems of Exxon Corporation and the problems of white America in general and the problems of the teachers and the preachers and the F.B.I. and the social workers and my particular Mom and Dad/I am very familiar with the problems because the problems turn out to be me I am the history of rape I am the history of the rejection of who I am I am the history of the terrorized incarceration of myself I am the history of battery assault and limitless armies against whatever I want to do with my mind and my body and my soul and whether it’s about walking out at night or whether it’s about the love that I feel or whether it’s about the sanctity of my vagina or the sanctity of my national boundaries or the sanctity of my leaders or the sanctity of each and every desire that I know from my personal and idiosyncratic and indisputably single and singular heart I have been raped be- cause I have been wrong the wrong sex the wrong age the wrong skin the wrong nose the wrong hair the wrong need the wrong dream the wrong geographic the wrong sartorial I I have been the meaning of rape I have been the problem everyone seeks to eliminate by forced penetration with or without the evidence of slime and/ but let this be unmistakable this poem is not consent I do not consent to my mother to my father to the teachers to the F.B.I. to South Africa to Bedford-Stuy to Park Avenue to American Airlines to the hardon idlers on the corners to the sneaky creeps in cars I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name My name is my own my own my own and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this but I can tell you that from now on my resistance my simple and daily and nightly self-determination may very well cost you your life - June Jordan “Poem About My Rights” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH
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