“Show me your papers!” by Goldie Taylor / very powerful piece

[sasha031]

“Show me your papers!”

Major Blackard, then just 19 years old, dug into his trousers in search of his wallet. He padded his jacket, but could not find his billfold.

“Sir, I done left my wallet…” Blackard said. Before he could finish his sentence, the young man was posted against the brick wall, cuffed and taken to the St. Louis city jail. Unable to prove his identity, he would spend the next 21 days in a cramped, musty cell. That’s where his older brother Matt found him, beaten and bloodied. Matt returned with Major’s employer later that day, wallet and identification card in hand, to post bond.

The year was 1899. Major Blackard was my great, great grandfather.

The real crime, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Doug Blackmon points on in his seminal work Slavery by Any Other Name, was that my grandfather was a colored man in America.

This morning, as White House staffers handed out copies of the president’s long form birth certificate, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something very ugly was going on. For the first time in recorded history, a sitting president of the United States found it necessary to produce his original birth certificate for public inspection. Not once, in 235 years, have we ever demanded proof that our president was born on American soil.

much more at link
http://goldietaylor.wordpress.com/

this lovely lady was just featured on Rachel. I admit to being completely frustrated by the continues talk and media coverage about birthers and trump.

After hearing this extraordinary lady speak tonight. I get it.

[meow mix]

1. k&r

[WillyT]

2. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Luminous Animal]

3. Excellent analysis.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. It's pure, unadulterated, racism. n/t

[sasha031]

6. I really didn't understand till I heard this woman speak

then again, I tune trump and the birthers out

[Sheepshank]

5. I heard the words on Maddow

and went directly to the site to read the words for myself.

I'd mentioned in an earlier post that I felt that somehow showing the birth certificate was viscerally wrong, but unfortunately necessary. Demanding the birth certificate for the last 2+ years was even more viscerally wrong. But I had a hard time putting into words why it felt so wrong. No such birth certificate question has EVER been raised in this manner with any other Presidential hopeful. This all had NOTHING to do with citizenship. Proof of this red herring is clear by the moving target now gravitating towards Obama's intellectual acheivement...as if he wasn't qualified to be smart enough to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, or receive the rare honor of being the President of the Harvard Law Review. What must this brilliant, high IQ man do to prove his worth at least in the area of citizenship and intellectual worth?

I have found the words that elude me, spoken through the experience and eyes of someone else. And yes, I'm slamming the race card down on the table with vigor. Trump is a disgusting racist.

[donheld]

12. same here

[riderinthestorm]

7. Wow. Just wow. A kick and rec of the highest order. nt

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

8. Amen

No other president, no other candidate, has ever been compelled to produce their birth certificate. Now this president suddenly has to . Why? Oh--he could have just put this to bed by producing it two years ago. Really? Again, I ask, why this president. Why not every congress member who questioned his citizenship? Because there wasn't any doubt that they were "real" Americans? Based on the damage George Bush did to this country, there was more evidence that he wasn't a real American than there was ever reason to doubt Obama, but we let this idiotic debate go on for two years. Why this president?

[DearAbby]

9. moved to tears by this piece

I am so ashamed right now, why did the media, our Representatives allow this to drag on for over 2 yrs? I am so ashamed and ANGRY.

[pamela]

10. The events today reminded me of James Meredith...

...arriving on campus at U Miss accompanied by federal marshalls





Presenting U Miss officials with the court injunction requiring them to admit him




And being "greeted" by the teabaggers of that time period.

[6000eliot]

11. What tawdry racist crap this "birther" thing is.

I'm sorry the president had to dignify it with a response.

[BrendaBrick]

18. me too!

Also reminds me of the humiliation and arrest Henry Louis Gates Jr. had to endure 7-20-2009 trying to get into his OWN house because he misplaced his keys!!! Incredible!

[riderinthestorm]

13. I've already voted on this but will kick as many times as necessary to see justice done. nt

[handmade34]

14. beautiful woman...

yes... moved to tears and sense of sadness for our country by this essay...

"When they tell you this isn’t racial, don’t believe them. This controversy was constructed solely to as a way to de-legitimize the presidency of a Black man. Those who question the location of Barack Obama’s birth are the very same people who would pack up and move out of the neighborhood if someone like me moved in next door. They are the same people who believe African Americans are better suited on a basketball court than in a boardroom..."

[Heidi]

15. Recommended.

:kick:

[DirkGently]

16. Another who saw this on Rachel's broadcast. About time the racial context was pushed aggressively.

[nc4bo]

17. Thank-you for posting this!

I don't care how many claim that their actions have nothing to do with race, it reeks of racism.

K&R

[crickets]

19. "I thought we were better than this." K&R -nt

:thumbsup: