#Black Freedmen Matter

[ausetkmt]

[ausetkmt]

Anyone with an internet connection can now access more than 3.5 million records documenting the lives of free Black people during the Reconstruction period. Created by genealogy company Ancestry, the free online portal amounts to a treasure trove of information about Black communities in the United States between 1846 and 1878, reports Rosalind Bentley for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).

The newly debuted tool will allow researchers to study the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau) with unprecedented ease. Though some of the documents, which are housed at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C., have been digitized previously, the searchable database offers a new level of accessibility. Users can find the resource here.

2 / 3 The Freedmen's Bureau aimed to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care and more to newly freed Black Americans in the wake of the Civil War. Library of Congress

The Freedmen’s Bureau dates to the end of the Civil War—the bloodiest conflict in American history. Established by Congress in March 1865, the program offered education, medical care, food, clothing and labor contracts to displaced Southerners, including more than four million newly freed Black Americans. Bureau officials also helped the formerly enslaved locate their loved ones, investigate incidents of racist violence and legally marry their spouses, per the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

A social relief program of unprecedented scope, the bureau remained in operation for less than a decade. In 1872, pressure from white Southern legislators and the threat of vigilante violence (such as attacks by the Ku Klux Klan) led Congress to abandon the project.

Today, historians continue to debate the effectiveness of these short-lived relief efforts. But the millions of pages of records that officials produced during this period have become a boon for historians and genealogists eager to study their ancestors and learn more about the lives and concerns of newly freed Black people.

For many formerly enslaved people, bureau documents represented the first time their names were written down in official records of any kind, notes the AJC. Prior to 1870, U.S. censuses neglected to include the names of enslaved people, instead listing them statistically under their enslavers’ names or referring to them as numbers.

The bureau’s handwritten records are often unwieldy and difficult to read. As Allison Keyes reported for Smithsonian magazine in 2018, the Smithsonian Transcription Center offers ongoing opportunities for volunteers to translate the 19th-century cursive in more than 1.5 million image files into searchable text.

During a virtual roundtable announcing the Ancestry initiative, genealogist Nicka Sewell-Smith said, “I spent 14 years going through this collection going image by image.” Per the Grio, she added, “So with the [new, searchable] collection, in the manner in which it’s being released, that changes the game quite a bit for a lot of people.”

Stan Deaton, a senior historian at the Georgia Historical Society who was not involved in the Ancestry project, emphasizes the possibilities opened up by the portal.

“It’s hard to overstate how important this could be,” Deaton tells the AJC. “The Freedmen’s Bureau was … in many ways was the first social service agency.”

The historian adds, “So [the Ancestry project] is very important in capturing the lives of four million people who were newly freed and starting new lives in one of the greatest social changes in this country’s history. This could be a gold mine.”

Editor’s Note, August 27, 2021: This article has been updated to clarify how enslaved people were counted in the census prior to 1870.

[mimi-0007]

My family Chickasaw Freedmen.

[reasoningdaily]

When the Seminole Indians Aligned With Escaped Slaves

The Black Seminoles were a group of people that history, for the most part, forgot about. Their alliance with the native Seminole tribes resulted in a unique relationship that had never been seen before, and that changed the course of history for both the Seminoles and the State of Florida as a whole.

The Black Seminoles, sometimes called Maroons, were a group of freed men and runaway slaves living in Florida during the mid-16th century. They settled the first free Black town in American history, attained their freedom by joining the Spanish and converting to Catholicism, and formed a tight cultural bond with the Seminole tribes.

[petervintonjr]

"If the government had the right to free us she had a right to make some provision for us and since she did not make it soon after Emancipation she ought to make it now."

One of the earliest leaders in the cause of post-enslavement reparations, Callie Guy House was herself born enslaved in (it is assumed) 1861, in Tennessee, even as the Civil War was underway. After emancipation her mother moved the family to Nashville, where she lived until the age of 22. While Callie did receive some primary school education there is no indication of her ever having graduated from any high school or higher institution. She married a William House and and they raised five children.

From there the story might otherwise have ended unremarkably, but for Callie happening upon a pamphlet that had been circulating amongst Black communities in central Tennessee in 1891; Freedmen's Pension Bill: A Plea for American Freedmen by Walter Vaughan. Modeled on the military service pensions of the Civil War, Vaughan's pamphlet was an appeal for the fair treatment of formerly enslaved people, and a proposal to grant pensions to people of color who had been emancipated. While the first such bill had already been introduced in Congress the previous year, it had gotten little traction. But the premise appealed to House and she set forth on a newfound personal mission.

By 1898 House had chartered the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association and was serving as its secretary --eventually to be its president. She travelled throughout the post-Reconstruction South, and spread the idea of former slave reparations to massed audiences. By 1900 the organization's membership stood at 300,000, and House had brought her eloquent arguments all the way to the floor of Congress.

In an era of rapidly expanding Jim Crow laws, House's efforts quite naturally entailed a lot of risk, and the ex-slave pension movement fell afoul of both the press and the government, which resorted to using (of all tactics) the Post Office Department's antifraud powers to concoct charges against House. In 1916, in the midst of a prolonged attempt to file a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury department (see Johnson v. McAdoo, 1915), Callie and other leaders of the association were formally indicted by U.S. postmaster general on charges of mail fraud (on the argument that the printed circulars were promising "imminent" reparation payments). House was convicted and sentenced to nearly a year in prison in Jefferson City, Missouri. House did not return to her activist life after prison; she died in 1928 at the age of 67.

[itsgeecheebitch]

Before Juneteenth comes to a close, let's not forget to honor our ancestors, all of the American Freedmen soldiers who fought and died in the civil war(despite this country always trying to downplay the major role Black people played in the civil war) as well as the Gullah Geechee Maroon rebels (Gullah War. The longest war fought on American soil) who also fought to end slavery and whose efforts placed an even greater pressure on the American government to end slavery and thus helped spark the civil war.

This day is nothing without our ancestors. We should use it to honor their memory, their sacrifice, and courage. We should also use this day to encourage all of us to continue to fight for equality, equity, and the restoration of our people: economically, politically, academically, culturally, socially, etc.

[pierrotwrites-hc]

sneak peak: part III chapter 2

The hatch above sliced the weak light like a cutting wire, casting a grid on the damp stone walls below. Connell watched through half-closed eyes as two water droplets slid down the wall toward a patch of light. He wasn’t betting on any droplet in particular; simply observing their progress.

Doran spoke, his voice raspy from dehydration. They weren’t quite thirsty enough to start licking the walls, but it was only a matter of time.

“Hey, Con,” he rasped. “What time d’you think it is?”

The first dozen times Doran had asked this question, Connell had tried to make out the hour by the subtle variation in the darkness. The next dozen times, he’d responded with sarcasm. Now he didn’t even bother to reply.

“I’d wager it’s lunchtime,” said Doran. “Hey, Con. What’ll you wager it’s lunchtime?”

“Doran, we’re in a pit. What do you expect me to wager, rat bones?”

There was a pause.

“I don’t think all of these bones belonged to rats,” said Doran.

Connell had been trying not to look too closely at the pitiful heap of bones against the far wall. Now it loomed hugely in the corner of his eye, a portent of a future he didn’t want to contemplate. He turned back to the water droplets, but they had already been absorbed into the stone.

“Hey, Con.”

When Connell didn’t reply, Doran kept repeating his name until he snapped.

“What?”

“D’you think Toby and Luca made it to Fleetside?”

There was a long silence. This time Doran didn’t try to break it.

The top of the pit opened with a scream of metal. Piercing sunlight streamed down. Connell and Doran scrambled to their feet, squinting up through watering eyes. Connell could just make out dark figures high above. He had the image of hunters looking into a trapping pit to see what they’d caught for dinner.

There was a muffled discussion, too far up for Connell's straining ears to hear. Then something was thrown down. A rope ladder. It unrolled as it fell before jerked to a stop a few feet above the damp ground.

“They can’t seriously expect us to climb up,” said Connell.

Doran was already testing the ladder’s bottom rung to see if it would hold his weight. He cast Connell a scornful look.

“What else are we going to do? Stay here and starve?”

He had a point. Still…

“What if they cut our heads off once we get to the top?”

“It’ll be a better death than that poor bugger got,” said Doran, nodding to the heap of bones.

That was all the convincing Connell needed. If he was going to die, he wanted to die on his feet, under the sky, with the gods as his witnesses. Not here in a hole like a rat.

Doran was already scaling the ladder. Connell took a steadying breath and pulled himself up after.

They emerged several long minutes later, sweating, panting, dizzy with hunger and vertigo. After so long spent in the dark of the pit, even the pale gray sun was blinding. Connell wiped his streaming eyes on his sleeve. The figures swam into focus—not Dogs of Guye but a dozen armed men who wore no uniform. Still, Connell could tell they were soldiers. It wasn’t just their weapons, but their air of casual menace and the readiness with which they held themselves.

Gods above and below, Connell was sick of soldiers. Nearly as sick as he was of waiting to die. He almost hoped this lot would just kill them and have done with it.

“You’re the freedmen they call Connell and Doran?”

The question was asked by a wiry, weathered, quick-eyed man in a dark orange greatcoat. He had no symbols of office on his breast, but it was clear from the way his fellows regarded him that he was the leader here.

Connell and Doran shared a speaking look. They had no friends in this place. Anyone who was looking for them by name meant them harm.

Their fear must’ve shown on their faces. The soldier held up his hands.

“We’re no enemies of yours, lads. Got you out of that pit, didn’t we? I’m to bring you to Robert Black. Orders from the man himself.”

“Why?” asked Doran, only remembering to add “Sir” when Connell elbowed him.

“Something to do with his boy,” said the soldier, shrugging. “Anyway, you ought to be thanking your lucky stars Black spared a thought for you, busy as he is. The Dogs meant to leave you down there. They were taking bets on how long you'd last.”

Connell and Doran shared another speaking look. This time it was horror that echoed between them like the sound of a scream too deep in the earth for any living soul to hear.

“How long were we down there, sir?” Doran asked.

“Two days,” the man replied. “And no wonder you’re jumpy as cats, you must be bloody starving.” He took some bread from the inside pocket of his greatcoat and tossed it to them. “Thought so,” he said, as they fell on their portions like wolves. “I’m Tyburn, by the way.”

The name was vaguely familiar. From Doran’s reaction, he knew it.

As they followed the man—away from the pit, thank all the gods; Connell would be glad to have no more dealings with pits for as long as he lived—Doran leaned in and hissed, “Willy Tyburn, Con! He’s the Terror of King’s Road! His gang held up Lord Ambrose’s carriage, remember? The Duke wouldn’t leave the grounds for months without an armed guard.”

As usual, Doran had spoken louder than he intended. Tyburn cast an amused look over his shoulder.

“Belonged to the Duke of Chesten, did you?”

Connell and Doran exchanged guilty looks.

“Yes, sir,” said Connell. He turned his forearm to show the Duke’s mark branded there. He was so blanched from the cold that four-ringed annulet stood out like a blood-blister.

“We aren’t runaways, sir,” said Doran quickly. “The Dogs freed us.”

“I’m in the business of taking collars off slaves, lad, not putting ’em back on,” said Tyburn. “Whether in the Dogs’ camp or ours, you’re free men.”

Doran didn’t try to hide his relief. Seeing it, Connell had to tamp down a searing flash of anger. After everything Doran had put them through—after what had been done to them, to Toby, to Luca—even now, after all of it, the only thing he cared about was his precious fucking freedom.

Toby and Luca. Could they have run into Robert Black on the way to Fleetside? Luca had been a spy, after all, however difficult it was for Connell to get his head around; he and Black were on the same side. And they’d known each other in Lyonesse, hadn’t they? That brute Arkwright had said as much. Black had been one of Luca’s clients when he was still posing as a lord. But maybe that, too, had been a ruse, a cover for their meetings. Maybe Black and Luca were better acquainted than anyone knew.  

The same thoughts were going through Doran’s head. In a voice too low for Tyburn to hear, he whispered, “Something to do with his boy. You don’t think…?”

Connell didn’t know what to think. But he hoped. He hoped more fiercely than he’d let himself hope for anything in a very long time.

They passed through the vast gates and emerged onto the moor. When Connell was here last, it had been an expanse of damp mist drifting over earth so barren even the snow seemed to wither as it fell. Overnight, a city had sprung up. It was a city of tents, thousands on thousands, vanishing into the far distance. Within those tents and bustling between them were twice, no, three times as many men—soldiers, Connell supposed, though few wore anything like a uniform, and some of those uniforms were in Ademar’s colors. At least half looked more like Midland peasants than battle-hardened rebels.

“Con, look!”

Connell followed Doran’s pointing finger to a group of men distinct not only for their richly-colored skin but their military bearing. These must be the Enkaaran mercenaries he’d heard about. They were certainly easier to imagine in battle than the peasants. Still, in their pale uniforms against the backdrop of gray tents and grayer sky, they looked lost, even a little forlorn, like a flock of birds blown off-course in a storm.

“Poor buggers came all the way to Castle Guye just to camp on the bloody doorstep,” said Tyburn, shaking his head. “That’s Northern hospitality for you.”

He brought Connell and Doran to a tent that would have been indistinguishable from any of the others except for its size and the sense that, somehow, the rest of the camp had been built around it. A line of people queued outside, all with that air of self-possession particular to freeborn men. They reacted with varying degrees of indignation as Tyburn pushed Connell and Doran past them and into the tent.

Judging from the bustle of activity within, they’d just entered the center of operations. These soldiers were clearly among the more seasoned. Connell even spotted a few faces he recognized from Redditch. Others were familiar from the wanted posters he’d seen in Lyonesse and along the King’s Road.

And at the center of it all was Robert Black.

He would’ve stood out even if he hadn’t been half a head taller than everyone but the barbarian who loomed at his right side. There was the red hair, of course, unnervingly similar to the color of dried blood, and the eyes that stared out of deep hollows, as hard and bright and calculating as a carrion bird’s. Connell had seen drawings of Black’s face on wanted posters—bad drawings, he’d thought at the time, but seeing their subject now, there was some truth to the depictions. He might not have the cartoonish menace of the posters, but Robert Black was the most dangerous-looking man Connell had ever seen.

Robert looked up and saw them. It was like being pinned under a glacier.

“That will be all,” he said.

He didn’t even need to raise his voice. In a moment the tent was empty. Even Tyburn melted away. The only one who stayed was the barbarian. Black’s bodyguard, Connell assumed. His was not a comforting presence.

Robert Black came around the desk and leaned against it. There was a silence; Connell measured its length in heartbeats. When at last Robert spoke, his voice was chillingly devoid of feeling.

“So you’re the so-called friends who abducted Luca.”

[militantinremission]

The Freedman's Bank Forum: The Art of Disenfranchisement

Kamala Harris has hit the Campaign Trail & named Gov. Tim Walz as her Running Mate, but she has yet to give a Press Conference or Mainstream Media Interview. She STILL hasn't offered any Policy Initiatives on her Campaign Website. This has lead some in The New Black Media to look at her Policy Offerings as VP. Sabrina Salvati of Sabby Sabs & Phil Scott of The Afrikan Diaspora Channel both looked at Kamala Harris' 2023 Speech at the Freedman's Bank Forum- for ideas of what a 'Harris- Walz Administration' may look like. In her Speech, Kamala gave a history of The Freedman's Bureau 'Freedman's Bank', Created in 1865. She spoke on why a Specific Bank for the Formerly Enslaved was necessary. She also talked about the Farms, Homes, & Businesses that Freedmen were able to purchase & build through Loans from Freedmen's Bank.

Unfortunately, 9Yrs after its inception, Freedman's Bank was Closed; due to mismanagement, & outright theft of Funds by Congressmen overseeing Bank Operations. Over 61,000 Depositors lost their Funds- estimated at over $3M (over $50M in today's Economy). Kamala sounded like she understood the plight of American Descendants Of Chattel Slavery & Our specific need for resources, but she shifted her narrative fairly quickly. She started by shifting a Black Specific Issue, to an 'All Lives Matter' Issue. Kamala transformed the necessity of a Freedman's Bank to jumpstart Reconstruction, into a need for EVERYONE to have access to (Freedmen) Resources. She starts by mentioning 'Minorities' & 'Marginalized Communities', but goes on to include Latinx, Native American, Asian, & Rural Communities in the Freedman's Bank Story.

Kamala went on to describe one of her Final Acts as a U.S. Senator. This was an Initiative that she helped to set up w/ the help of [Secretary of The Treasury] Janet Yellen, [Senators] Mark Warner, Chuck Schumer, & Corey Booker, plus Rep. Maxine Waters. The Initiative, was a plan to invest $12B in Community Institutions for 'Overlooked & Underserved Communities'... My 1st question is: How many of THOSE INSTITUTIONS are Owned & Operated by Indigenous Black Americans? I only know of ONE in My Community, & David Rockefeller has been invested in them for nearly 30Yrs... Harris says that currently, $8B has been disbursed to 162 'Community Lenders' Nationwide, & gave examples of how the Funds are being disbursed:

Native American Bank lent a Tribe $10M to fund an Opioid Addiction Treatment Facility on Tribal Lands in N. Dakota

Carver Bank, in Ga. loaned $500K to 'Black Owned Companies' to help them develop Low Income Housing

Hope Credit Union, in Ms. gave a $10K Loan to a 'Black & Woman Owned' Coffee Business to expand

Aid to Immigrant Communities, including some Asian Communities

Aid to 'Rural Communities'

Maybe it's just Me, but I find it curious how the Freedman's Bank Legacy is being 'repackaged'. Under Kamala Harris, a SPECIFIC INSTITUTION meant for American Descendants Of Chattel Slavery, is being usurped to advance EVERYONE; except the Blackfolk it was designed to help. The numbers don't lie. Native American Tribes get Billions a Year in 'Set Asides' & they don't pay Taxes, but Kamala thinks they should also collect $10M meant for Black American interests? Then she brags about Black Businesses that only received 5% of what Native Americans collected from a measure that was supposed to be for Blackfolk. Apparently, Kamala wasn't lying when she said that she wasn't going to do ANYTHING that would only benefit Black Americans.

Like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris talks to Black Audiences about Equity, but only offers Black Americans a small share of what Everyone Else gets. In 2022, The Biden-Harris Administration & Janet Yellen launched the Economic Opportunity Coalition, along w/ 20 Private Sector Leaders. The Goal was to provide & invest Billions in Capital to Community Lenders for 'Minority Owned Businesses'. To date, this Coalition has currently committed over $1.2B to Community Lenders in 'Minority & World Communities'. From what I saw, Puerto Rico & Guam represented 9 of the 13 Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) awarded Funding. Of the 218 Organizations receiving Technical Awards, 56 were 'MDIs' & 38 were Organizations based in Puerto Rico. True to Form, the Biden- Harris Administration blurs the lines on what a 'Black Owned' Business is; Indigenous Blackfolk, Afro Caribbeans, & Afrikan Immigrants have been lumped into the 'Afrikan American' demographic. Is this Coalition keeping track of how many Freedmen (Male & Female) are receiving Awards?

Kamala's Speech at the 'Freedmen's Bank Forum' completely ignored the Descendants of the Freedmen Community, & Our History of adversity. Despite her disregard of Us, she says this Initiative was created to 'Realize the Vision of Freedmen's Bank'. I see This as a blatant Disenfranchisement of the Black Community that Freedmen's Bank was Chartered to serve. On top of her disingenuous empathy for Black Americans, She has the audacity to call this act of Economic Racism- 'Economic Justice'; & she does it w/ a straight face. I thank Sabrina Salvati & Phil Scott for uncovering this particular Policy Measure. Kamala Harris' lack of Policy on her Campaign Website tells Me that she doesn't want Us to know her Plan for the next 4Yrs. She has been called a Leftist & 'the most Progressive Senator in Congress', but her Policies are as Moderate as Joe Biden's.

I fully understand that the Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC) isn't Freedmen's Bank. If it was presented as a Measure that stood on its own merit, I probably wouldn't have much to say about it. If we're being honest, it falls in line w/ many other Policies of the Biden-Harris Administration. The Fact that Kamala Harris used the Freedmen's Bank Forum to push this Measure, is mean spirited & an insult to Our Ancestors. There's a Legion of Blackfolk & Afrikan Americans trying to certify Kamala's 'Blackness', but she has yet to affirm their claim. She had a chance to refute Donald Trump's assertion, but only offered more rhetoric. The Truth is, SHE'S NOT BLACK! Kamala's Record shows that she spent her Professional Career disenfranchising Us. As District Attorney, she targeted Blackfolk for Arrest on petty Quality of Life Crimes. As Attorney General & as a U.S. Senator, Kamala supported decriminalization of Illegal Border Crossings & the surge of Illegal Immigrants into Black Communities throughout California.

The Black Population in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, & Berkeley has dropped by 50% on her Watch. Kamala vacated over 1,000 Criminal Charges against OneWest Bank, George Soros, & Steve Mnuchin- for 'Foreclosure Violations' that cost Hundreds of Black Californians their Homes. Her action allowed Soros to sell OneWest for Billions, while Mnuchin moved on to become Secretary of The Treasury. At the Same Time, she kept Black Inmates imprisoned past their Release Date & denied others Parole; citing the need to maintain a Prison Labor Force (i.e. Convict Leasing). Black Women are siding w/ her, but Harris abandoned the Mitrice Richardson Case after winning her Senate Seat. Kamala also had a hand in stripping the Estate of Nina Simone away from her Surviving Family & awarding All Rights to Sony Music Entertainment. We're supposed to certify this Woman as 'Black', but she has a Legacy of Anti-Black (Aryan) behavior. Her latest act of disenfranchisement is actually Par for The Course.

Some question why Kamala Harris is getting so much heat from Black America? The Short Answer is- She rides on the Coattail of The Black Experience, but does NOTHING for Us Culturally, Socially, or Politically. What's her Black Agenda again? At This Point, We really can't blame Kamala for being consistent. We need to look at the Blackfolk & Afrikan Americans trying to shame us into Falling in Line w/ her Agenda; whatever THAT is...

-We have House Cleaning to do.

[fierypen37]

Virtue a Veil, Vice a Mask: Chapter 18

moodboard by @libradoodle1

Chapter 18

One month later . . .

Dany sank back onto sweat-damp furs, limp as wrung-out dishrag. Wordless, Jon took the chamber pot and emptied her sick. He returned with a wet rag and a horn cup of water. Dany rinsed her mouth and spat into the packed dirt of their tent. She sipped the water gingerly. Even water at times would find its way back up. The tiredness, the tenderness of her breasts, the sickness: the sum of this tally was evident enough. Even her craving of salt, her sudden sharpness of smell. The truth was there—so stark, so beautiful, but as fragile as a soap bubble. A wayward breath would kill it.

“My poor love. Bide a bit, aye? I’ll fetch you some bread,” Jon said, rubbing her back in soothing circles. Mm, she loved his warm, rough hands. The terror and joy must have risen to animate her face, for Jon stilled.

“Do you think it’s true?” Dany’s hoarse voice emerged with barely enough breath to be heard. Jon had keen ears, though, and she watched a smile spread across his face. A wide, toothy one that crinkled the corners of his eyes so beautifully it struck her heart. His hand moved from her back to rest just below her navel, over her still-flat belly.

“Yes, my wonder. You’ve performed another miracle,” he jested, kissing her hair.

Dany relaxed back against him, covering his hand with hers. A babe. How was it possible? After Khal Drogo, Qotho . . . the old ghosts stirred, hungry for the sharpness of her fear, but she banished them. Though with Jon, the two of them had bedded in such ferocity and frequency from nearly the moment they met that she was baffled by her sudden predicament.

“How?” she said. Jon chuckled.

“I’m sure the maesters have opinions on the matter, but I don’t know them,” he said. Dany cradled the spark of hope, pulsing within like an ember.

“A miracle,” Dany whispered.    

~

“Jelmazmo,” Grey Worm’s deep voice drew Daenerys from contemplating the map spread on the folding camp table. Their plan was a tenuous one. A khalasar and dragons they had, but soldiers? Infantry? Perhaps a handful of freedmen had joined them, mostly farmers who had sharpened their pitchforks into spears. Grey Worm suggested they return to Slaver’s Bay, the beating heart of the slave trade, and purchase more Unsullied. Gold they had, but not enough to purchase an army. It was Jon who suggested a coup of sorts.

“It is poor sense to line our enemy’s pockets while emptying our own coffers. Let us make use of the dragons and free the Unsullied in one stroke,” he said, stabbing his finger into the harpy poised over Astapor on the map. He and Aggo had ridden to the ridge to take the scope of the city.

“Yes, Grey Worm?” Daenerys asked. Something like discomfort entered Grey Worm’s black eyes. He licked his lips before speaking.

“Rīza dārys and the bloodriders say that the slavers have taken the bait,” Grey Worm said. Dany jumped to her feet, then staggered.

“Jon said he was only scouting! The coup is happening today? Now?” Dany’s voice rose shrilly in anger. Within her belly the babe kicked her ribs and she winced. At first, it was delicate fizzling little flutters. But in the long journey inland, the babe grew. Miracle though it was, the babe enjoyed amusing himself by kicking her ribs or jumping on her bladder. Now in her seventh month, Jon and her captains were adamant that she stay as far away from Astapor as possible. That damned man!

Daenerys reached through their bond and felt the warm blaze of Drogon. As the pregnancy progressed, her dragon had grown even more protective. Often he would fly so close the horses spooked, sending their column into disarray. Drogon was only content when Daenerys rode on his back. Come, my love! We ride! The answering roar was close. She surged to her feet, then swayed at little as a wave of dizziness overcame her. Grey Worm caught her arm to steady her.

“Jelmazmo, you should not go to the city. I know these slavers, they are cruel. And you carry another dragon in your belly,” Grey Worm said.

“What better protection than Drogon, Grey Worm? I must go. I must go to Jon and wring his handsome neck for leaving me behind,” she said, shaking off Grey Worm’s grip and struggling with the weight of her mail hauberk. Grey Worm cursed in bastard Valyrian and helped ease the weight over her head. Daenerys stuck out a foot and jerked her chin in a hurry-up motion. The shape of her belly prevented her from reaching her own bootlaces. Mindful of her swollen ankles, Missandei had thoughtfully loosened them before seeking her midday rest in her own tent. Grey Worm exhaled an irritated breath and knelt to tie her laces.

“Rīza dārys was adamant that you stay--”

“I am going, Grey Worm. I am blood of the dragon,” she said. The ground shuddered beneath their feet as Drogon landed. Dany shoved aside the partition of her tent and squinted into the blistering brightness of Astapor’s hot sun. Drogon gleamed obsidian with crimson streaks glowing in the sunlight. His amber-red eyes watched her approach, wide wings baiting in the eagerness to be gone. He did not want his brothers to have all the fun!

“You have the van, Grey Worm. Be ready!” Dany shouted over Drogon’s sharp cry.

Coiling her braid atop her head, she shoved her helm down over it. An enameled dragon in Drogon’s likeness snarled across her brow, her cheekpieces mimicking his open maw. Mounting Drogon wasn’t the usual effortless process. Bless him, Drogon flattened himself as much he could, even stilling his breathing as she scaled the ladder of spikes. With much cursing and effort, Dany settled in her usual spot, steadying herself on one of Drogon’s crimson spikes.

“Fly, my love,” Dany commanded in Valyrian. Drogon roared and with a teeth-jarring leap, flung himself upward. Dany grinned. The giddy rush of flying never lost its luster.

“I’m coming, Jon!”

~

 “Vyrmax, dracarys!” Jon bellowed. The white dragon arched his neck and Jon watched in half-horrified fascination as the white-gold blaze of fire emerged from his throat and bathed Kraznys mo Naklos in flames. The slaver shrieked, a high thin sound that snapped like glass. Then he was naught but blackened bones. Jon drew Nightfall. The world seethed like an upset anthill. Aggo drew his arakh, bellowing a war cry. The slavers and guards cursed and wept and died as the Unsullied advanced, as inevitable as the rush of a river. The cavalry of Jon and Dany’s khalasar surged out into the city. Slaying slavers, freeing slaves. Glorious chaos. Tessarion joined Vyrmax in the air, roaring and burning.

“Filthy Targaryen scum!” one guard spat, sprinting to meet Jon. Nightfall checked the blow—slivers of steel flying. Jon grinned, relishing the chance to at last strike against their enemy. The guard wasn’t ready for Jon duck to one side, for Jon’s knife to hamstring his leg, and Nightfall to open his throat. Another made the mistake of engaging Jon, and died with Nightfall piercing his heart. Hot energy sang through his muscles, that dark joy of battle. A spear blade sliced at his hauberk, but Jon swiveled and opened the attacker from collarbone to navel.

Another roar split the sky. Deeper, rich with a dragon’s rage. Drogon. Jon watched the great black dragon fly across the sun, resplendent in black and crimson. While it lifted his heart to see Drogon on wing, his heart sank. Dany. Dany had escaped her guards and thrown herself headlong into the fight. Damned stubborn woman!

“Vyrmax! To me!” Jon bellowed, with his voice and his mind. The white dragon shrieked, cutting sharply from where he flew west and landed with a jarring thud, his clawed feet crushing corpses. Jon sheathed Nightfall and scaled Vyrmax’s neck to his saddle.  

“Fly!” he said, rubbing the ridge of muscle just in front of the saddlebow. Anger made his movements crisp and sharp, an acid burn in the back of his throat. A surge of powerful muscles and the air caught them, those great wings flapping. Moving air kissed his sweating face. The sun shone white and gold through those thick wing membranes. He gained height in the air even with Drogon, all the while mentally haranguing his wife.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jon shouted as soon as he was certain she could hear him. Given the size of their mounts, they could not fly closely, so he could not read the expression beneath the crown of her helm. The sun shone off the polished steel and Jon’s eyes watered.

“Me? I could ask you the same fucking question!” Dany retorted shrilly, “You left me behind!”

Jon sliced his hand in an impatient gesture, standing in the stirrups of his saddle.

“For your own safety, you foolish woman! You’re about to give birth!”

“The maester and healers say there’s more than a moonturn until my time! After all this time, after all this struggle, you leave me behind!” Her voice rose and cracked over the words. The hot rush of anger faltered a little, pained as always by her distress.

“What kind of khal am I if I cannot keep my queen and my babe safe? I’m no king, no man at all if I cannot do that,” he said, as quietly as he dared to be heard. Dany heard him. The duck of her head made the enameled eyes of the dragon shine.

“These are my people. They deserve my protection too. How can they risk their lives for me if I’m not willing to do the same?”

The last of the anger slipped through his fingers like sand. His brave wife. Jon sighed, swiping sweat from his brow with the back of his glove. He stroked the hot smooth scales of Vyrmax’s cream-colored back.

“Join me in battle, my love. The slavers will remember the name Targaryen!” Jon said. The shape of her smile dazzled him.

“Dive!” Dany shouted in Valyrian.

~

 Five weeks later . . .

Dany sank back against the silky sheets, caught between the twin aches of her lower back and her throbbing feet. She huffed out a breath, rolling onto her other side. Sleep beckoned with dream-sweet kisses, but the deep ache in her back kept her awake. Clenching and unclenching like a tiny fist. Behind her, Jon murmured something in slurred Valyrian, too low for her catch. Dany subsided, hoping she hadn’t truly woken him. Petitioners had kept them both occupied for most of the day. Meereen’s heat made both she and Jon sleep naked.  

Cool wind stirred the gauzy curtains of Meereen’s peak, the lone candle flame danced in its sconce. Moonlight was pared into circles by the screen across the balcony door. Peaceful. Comfortable. Dany eased her breathing, rubbing the taut skin of her belly. She relished a quiet moment with just the two of them, her and the babe. I love you so much, little one. The babe hadn’t moved much today, though the midwives were quick reassure her. There simply wasn’t room for a good healthy khalakka to move now so close to her time.

The pain clenched again, tight, grasping. Her exhaled breath shook as her focus wavered. Something shifted. A gush of warm wet between her thighs, she looked down at the clear fluid wetting the sheets, releasing a faintly briny scent.  

“Jon. Jon!” Dany said, caught between terror and delight. The pain wasn’t simply one of sundry pains at being so massively pregnant, no. Labor pains! The babe was coming!

“Wha? What is it?” Jon shot up out of bed, blinking at her like a startled owl. His hair stood on end like porcupine quills. Dany reached for his hand. Jon took her hand between both his and knelt beside the bed.

“Are you well, my wonder? Shall I fetch you some ginger tea?” he asked. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so widely. Jon smiled back reflexively.

“Not just now, my love. We need the midwife. The babe is coming!”

Jon eyes flew wide. He jumped up and sprinted for the door, uncaring of his nakedness, wrenching it nearly off the hinges.

“FETCH THE MIDWIFE! THE QUEEN IS IN TRAVAIL!” Jon bellowed. When no midwife appeared from thin air, Jon shouted again, louder. Dany laughed.

“Jon, it’s all right. It won’t be for some time yet,” she said. in a blink, Jon was at her side.

“Do you need anything? Water? A blanket? A foot rub? Where in gods’ name is the thrice-damned midwife?”

Dany giggled, stroking his beloved face.

“It’s quite a large pyramid, my love. Give her time. Perhaps we can use new bedclothes? The waters have soaked them,” she said. Jon hustled her to the lounge chair and quickly stripped the bed. Missandei arrived just as Jon was tucking Dany back in bed, clean and comfortable. Just in time for the contraction to shiver through her, stronger this time. She rode the wave of it, waiting for it to ease. Two pairs of dark eyes watched her anxiously as she opened her own.

“I’m fine,” she promised. Jon—still naked—marched toward the door, wearing an expression that promised death and dragonfire if he was disobeyed. Just then Haji, the Dothraki midwife entered with her assistant, as well as a maester and one of the Green Graces.

“The queen is in travail. Aid her,” Jon said, folding his arms across his chest. Dany admired the force of her husband’s authority. He would defy the gods themselves for her, as she would for him. Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men. And now their little miracle was on their way.

Dany settled herself, ready for the trial.

Much later, the setting sun lit the room afire with gold. And Lyla Targaryen, slumbered at Dany’s breast. The aches were different, the sweat of effort cleaned and a gentle supper eaten. Dany floated, feeling a sense of perfect, utter peace. Jon kissed her forehead, nestled behind her on the nest of pillows.

“She’s perfect,” Jon whispered, tracing the tuft of silky dark hair on the top of her head. Happy tears flooded her eyes. All those years alone, enduring Drogo and Qotho, all that pain was worth it if it led her to this moment. This perfect moment. There was much work to do to rebuild the world, and bring the other slave cities to heel, but together they could do it. Tessarion had his rider, right here in the circle of her arms. The dragon has three heads.  Together, all was well.

“I love you,” she said.

And Jon smiled.  

[ethnicassets]

The Foundational Black American (FBA) Class: The Path to Reparations?

The concept of the Foundational Black American (FBA) class–an idea introduced by controversial multi-media race-arbiter Tariq Nasheed– updates the historical lineage to the American Freedmen Act. In the 19th century, the US Senate documented the Freedman Act decree, which serves as a powerful legal precedent for FBA claims.

Why Lineage Matters (and not only RACE)

Common Black citizens must prioritize sorting their family/blood lineage paperwork, just as the Native Americans did. The Freedmen Act holds the key to creating a #ReparationsTrust benefiting all FBAs. Emotional arguments on Internet/social media platforms, among recent Black immigrants outside of this specific lineage, are irrelevant to this critical path event.

Blueprint for Justice

Similar to the Native American Reparations Act (see: BIA.gov) an infrastructure is already established. This blueprint will secure proper PENALTY payments for the brutalization of FBA predecessors by the US government and specific private sector companies that benefited from centuries of Black enslavement. A pioneering #ReparationsTrust will integrate both government and private sector funding benefiting qualified FBA lineage applicants.

Tangible Moneys Owed to FBA Lineage

A Proposal to the US Department of Interior: Reparations Trust Fund Investment (hypothetical analysis)

Executive Summary

This proposal outlines the establishment of a Reparations Trust Fund aimed at disbursing $10 trillion over a 5-year period to 13 million households. The funds will be allocated to family households with a proven blood relationship to any enslaved Africans in the United States from the 16th century to the 19th century.

Objectives

Financial Reparations: Provide direct financial support to eligible households.

Historical Acknowledgment: Recognize and address the historical injustices faced by enslaved Africans and their descendants.

Economic Empowerment: Enhance the economic stability and opportunities for affected families.

Fund Allocation

Total Fund: $10 trillion

Disbursement Period: 5 years

Number of Households: 13 million (estimate via @pewinternet)

Annual Disbursement

Each year, $2 trillion will be disbursed among the 13 million eligible households.

Annual Disbursement per Household=13 million households$2 trillion​≈$153,846.15

Total Disbursement per Household

Over the 5-year period, each household will receive a total of approximately $769,230.75.

Total Amount per Household=$153,846.15 per year×5 years=$769,230.75

Eligibility Criteria

Proven Blood Relationship: Households must provide documented evidence of a blood relationship to enslaved Africans in the United States from the 16th century to the 19th century.

Verification Process: A thorough verification process will be established to ensure the authenticity of claims.

Implementation Plan

Establishment of Trust Fund: Create a dedicated trust fund managed by a board of trustees.

Verification and Registration: Develop a robust system for verifying eligibility and registering households.

Disbursement Mechanism: Implement a secure and efficient mechanism for disbursing funds directly to eligible households.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuously monitor and evaluate the disbursement process to ensure transparency and effectiveness.

Conclusion

The Reparations Trust Fund represents a significant step towards addressing historical injustices and providing economic empowerment to the descendants of enslaved Africans. This investment will not only offer financial support but also serve as a formal acknowledgment of the enduring impact of slavery.

A Historic Opportunity?

This could be Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr.'s greatest deal in history. By revitalizing America's second-largest race group—the Black Americans, who were born under the yoke of brutal blood and tyranny—the FBA movement aims to make the nation's legacy whole.

It must be done.

[ausetkmt]

Freedmen Seek Their Fair Share of Billions of Dollars in Federal Aid and Why We Should Care/Rise UP and Support Them

By Eli Grayson Eagle Guest Writer

Eli Grayson is a Creek Citizen and unabashed supporter of the Freedmen descendants of the 5 Civilized Tribes and the 1866 Reconstruction Treaties.

This past week, we celebrated our Nation’s 244th year of Independence with family and friends over BBQ and fireworks, we should all stop to reflect on its significance, particularly in light of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

The protests that have swept the country by those outraged over the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others, most of whose names have not garnered national attention, has sparked a long-overdue National dialogue about the treatment of Black Americans in the United States, a reckoning with this country’s past, the many vestiges of slavery that continue today, and what we as a country can and must do to address racism. [It also reminds ALL of us that we have a long way to go.]

Not only have the egregious deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery led to a growing chorus of voices calling for criminal justice reform, it has prompted many to reflect upon racism in both its subtle and overt forms today. It has prompted many to learn about events long celebrated by Black Americans such as Juneteenth (even the NFL recently recognized Juneteenth as an official holiday). And it has prompted many to consider what steps we as individuals, and as a society, can take to affirmatively address it. Here in Oklahoma, attention has focused on Black Wall Street and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Well known is the U.S. Government’s abhorrent treatment of Native Americans, which included abrogation of countless treaties, appropriation of land, and forced removal to Western territories, including what is today Oklahoma.

Less well known, however, is the fact that the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations – collectively known today as the Five Civilized Tribes – enslaved Africans. Like Southern plantation owners, they bought and sold slaves and treated them as chattel property. Indeed, slaveholding was such an integral part of the daily life of these tribal nations that each entered treaties with the Confederate States of America in 1861 to ensure its continuance.

Many Americans recently learned for the first time about the meaning and significance of Juneteenth, when nearly all remaining slaves in the United States and its territories were freed – a full 71 days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865 to Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant.

Enslaved Africans of Indian Territory

This was not the case for the enslaved Africans of Indian Territory. Even after Lee’s surrender, and even after General Granger read his Orders, the enslaved Africans of Indian Territory were kept in bondage.

Sadly, it was not until the Five Tribes of Indian Territory entered Treaties with the U.S. Government on March 21, with the Seminole Nation, on April 28, with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, on June 14, with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and on July 19, with the Cherokee Nation in 1866 – more than a year after Lee’s surrender – were these slaves granted freedom, tribal citizenship, and equal interest in the soil and national funds.

Each of these treaties (collectively known as the Treaties of 1866) contained provisions freeing the slaves and an express acknowledgement that the U.S. Constitution was, and shall remain, the Supreme Law of the land. Notably, there was no mention of tribal law or sovereignty insulating these slave holding tribes from full compliance with the U.S. Constitution, which includes all the Civil War reconstruction amendments.

Today, we find ourselves at a turning point in society. Similar to the country as a whole, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations must take this seminal moment to carefully examine their slaveholding past, their prior allegiance with the Confederacy, enshrined through Treaties entered in 1861, and how they can make amends by fully adhering to both the letter and spirit of the 1866 Reconstruction Peace Treaties.

Congressional legislation

The three House bills are H.R. 2, the Invest in America Act, which includes $1 billion for the Native American Housing Block Grant Program to create or rehabilitate over 8,000 affordable homes for Native Americans on tribal lands; H.R. 6800, the HEROES Act, which includes $6 billion for housing and community development to respond to the Coronavirus; and H.R. 5319, the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act (NAHASDA), which would authorize $680 million in grants to tribes in the first year and grow to $824 million in the fifth and final year.

Why is this important and why should you care? NAHASDA was originally passed by Congress in 1996 to address poor housing conditions in Indian country and last re-authorized in 2008. It is a flagship Federal law for Native American tribes and the vehicle through which approximately $650 million flows annually to the tribes. In Oklahoma, the Five Civilized Tribes receive more than $62 million annually in direct grants for housing and community development projects. These grants are based on a formula that takes into account various factors including the number of tribal members. Notably, these grants are supported by taxpayers.

For the 2021 Fiscal Year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is responsible for administering NAHASDA, has informed the Five Civilized Tribes that they can expect to receive $62,223,462. Thus, nearly 10 percent of all NAHASDA grant funds will go to just these five tribes. By any measure, this is a significant sum, particularly when you consider that there are approximately 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States today, according to data from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. And, the final amount will be even greater as Congress has (appropriately) increased the amount of funds for NAHASDA far above the amounts requested by this Administration, including an appropriation of $825 million for this Fiscal Year.

Oklahoma Tribes receive millions in housing aid

Native American Tribes also receive other competitively awarded grants from HUD through a program known as the Indian Community Development Block Grant program. The Choctaw Nation was recently awarded $900,000 to rehabilitate 60 single-family homes while the Cherokee Nation received the same sum to construct a community building, which will house the Early Head Start program. The Chickasaw Nation was awarded $900,000 to construct a youth center in Ardmore, Oklahoma that will provide a safe and clean place for activities and services for Chickasaw tribal youth while the Muscogee (Creek) Nation will use its $900,000 award to construct a facility on the campus of the College of Muscogee Nation. The facility will include space for exhibitions and a lecture hall. These are worthy projects and it is vital that all those in need, including Freedmen descendants, can benefit.

Why Freedmen are concerned

Now if you have read this far, you must be thinking this is great news for these five tribes. And indeed, it is. However, for the Freedmen who are de facto members of the tribe, they may never see a dime of these funds if history is any guide.

Steps such as conditioning or denying the issuance of Citizenship Cards to Freedmen descendants, as well the disenrollment of Freedmen as tribal citizens, is what first led Congress in 2008 to include language in the NAHASDA re-authorization bill to link the receipt of NAHASDA housing grants to compliance with the treaty rights and benefits conferred on the Freedmen through the 1866 treaties.

That is why the efforts of House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-California, to fight on behalf of the Freedmen of all Five Civilized Tribes is so vital.

The committee she chairs oversees HUD and is responsible for periodically re-authorizing NAHASDA. A bi-partisan bill introduced in Congress last December would re-authorize NAHASDA. However, unlike the 2008 legislation, which contained language to prevent the Cherokee Nation from denying Cherokee Freedmen under the Act, the bill introduced by Rep. Denny Heck and co-sponsored by Reps. Scott Tipton (R-Colorado), Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico), Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), Deb Haaland (D- New Mexico), Don Young (R-Arkansas), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), does not contain any protections for the Cherokee Freedmen nor the Freedmen of the other Civilized Tribes. Similarly, the version introduced in the Senate last week is devoid of such protections for the Freedmen.

Disturbed by the pattern of denying benefits to Freedmen, Chairwoman Waters is seeking assurance that descendants of Freedmen are not denied NAHASDA funds received by the Tribes. The Descendants of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes have been working to include language that would ensure that the Freedmen of all Five Civilized Tribes receive taxpayer funded NAHASDA benefits. A similar effort advanced by former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank was successful and helped to ensure that Cherokee Freedmen received NAHASDA benefits. And in case, any question whether such protections were needed, one look only to the fact that HUD held up NAHASDA funds to the Cherokee Nation for noncompliance.

Native Americans keep fight against Freedmen

Given the harsh treatment of Native Americans at the hands of whites, one naturally would expect these Five Tribes and their supporters and defenders to be more sensitive to the plight of Freedmen who today make up more than 200,000 descendants.

The reality has been quite the opposite.

Despite knowing all this, tribal leaders and their supporters and defenders continue to maintain that such language is not needed and further argue that such language infringes upon the sovereign rights of ALL Native American tribes.

Both arguments could not be further from the truth.

Language ensuring that the Freedmen have access to federal housing benefits is urgently needed for the very reason that Freedmen have routinely been denied NAHASDA benefits for years. And let’s be clear – language we are seeking does not apply to ALL tribes, but rather only to the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes.

And it does not stop at NAHASDA benefits. Freedmen have been denied tribal citizenship, benefits, and the right to vote as well. Regarding sovereignty, these are federal taxpayer dollars – as such, the federal government and, by extension, its American citizens, have a vested interest in ensuring that all tribal members, including Freedmen, benefit from the funds appropriated pursuant to NAHASDA.

If tribes feel so strongly about their sovereign right to continue to discriminate against Freedmen through denial of federally funded benefits, they can opt to refuse the funding, which would then be redistributed to other tribes. Indeed, it is the height of hypocrisy for any of the Five Civilized Tribes or their supporters to makes these arguments as they count the Freedmen when it comes to the allocation of federal housing grants from HUD yet turn around and deny those very same Freedmen from receiving such benefits.

Freedmen are equal, lawful Tribal citizens

And don’t be mistaken. While Freedmen should be treated as equal citizens under the respective 1866 Treaties, the language we are seeking to include in each of these three bills carefully avoids this ensuring Freedmen receive taxpayer housing and community development benefits on the same terms and conditions as their Native American sisters and brothers.

Indeed, in many instances, these truly are their sisters and brothers given the extensive intermixing of Freedmen and By Blood tribal members over the years. Ironically, this has resulted in some members of a family being considered by the Five Tribes as Indian and therefore citizens of the Tribe while other family members being considered by the tribe as non-Indian and therefore like black sheep.

Yet every time we make a further legislative concession and are led to believe that we are close to a final agreement on language, the Tribes and their supporters and defenders move the goalposts. Sound familiar? Yes, a sensitive issue. The Freedmen only seek to ensure that the Five Civilized Tribes comply with the Treaties of 1866.

Tribal Nations’ actions throw shade on BLM

Lastly, the Five Civilized tribes cannot have it both ways. They cannot on the one hand claim they are victims of discrimination and participate in BLM rallies yet discriminate against Freedmen by denying them suffrage and other rights of tribal citizenship under the guise of sovereignty.

And we are under no illusion that fighting this battle for justice and equality will not remain a challenge. The Five Civilized Tribes have wielded their extensive influence amongst the Nation’s 573 tribes to frame the debate and shape the position of the National tribal organizations in Washington, whom the Members of Congress look to when writing laws that affect the tribes. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the Five Civilized tribes have deployed their sizable resources to contribute to key Members of Congress with the dual purpose of keeping Americans in the dark about their slaveholding past and ensuring that these legal protections for Freedmen never see the light of day in Congress.

But just like our Nation, it is time for the Five Civilized Tribes to stand up and confront their past by taking immediate and affirmative steps to ensure that all descendants of Freedmen receive the federal housing benefits.

This they can do by supporting legislation being courageously advanced by Chairwoman Waters that would require the Five Civilized Tribes to both comply with their Treaty obligations of ensuring access to benefits for Freedmen and report on their compliance to Congress.

Featured Image (Top), Buck C. Franklin, Nashville, Tennessee, 1899, Calvert Brothers Studio Glass Plate Negatives Collection, The Tennessee State Library and Archives Blog

[superbdragoncollection-stuff]

And yet this doesn't seem to apply to certain categories, like the black units who have served throughout US history, or the 442nd Regiment composed of Japanese-American men in WWII.

The 442nd is the most decorated Army unit in US history, with tons of purple hearts, medals of honor, and other decorations. They had enough replacements from the number of losses they had that you could have replaced it twice. Yet this unit is not common knowledge. Nor is it common knowledge why it was made; tons of west coast Japanese Americans were interned in 1942 for fear they might be saboteurs, even if they had never been to Japan, didn't even speak Japanese, and were as loyal and all american as anyone. This included entire families, including a child named George Takei. No German or Italian people were interned. Even if you don't study wwii, you recognize Eisenhower, Pearl Harbor, and D-Day. Yet the 442nd is not well known.

They were at one point attached to the 92nd Infantry Division, a black division, who were reportedly less than stellar in their performance, yet it is likely that that was misreported due to structural racism.

Also ignored is the fact that 10% of the US Army in the US Civil War was black. In fact, people go so far as to claim black soldiers fought for the confederacy, despite documents from their leadership literally saying that that would betray their entire cause of literal slavery. Despite how much they contributed to the war effort, no matter if they were freedmen or former slaves, they are ignored. They fought in the battle of the crater, where many died in part because of racist treatment getting them there. They were decorated with many medals, and suffered greater losses than the proportion of white soldiers. At the Battle of Fort Pillow, Nathan Bedford Forrest, future founder of the Ku Klux Klan, wrote a note demanding Fort Pillow's surrender, that ended with saying there would be "No mercy". The largely black garrison was then slaughtered. It made big news. Lincoln condemned it. Black soldiers were poorly treated in POW camps, many being carted off as escaped slaves. Slavers would regularly walk in to examine them, and you can bet many lied and said "this one is mine". The entire POW exchange system during the war broke down because of these men. Normally, prisoners could be exchanged over the course of the war. The rebs refused to treat black men as soldiers, and the Union said they wouldn't trade anyone period if those men weren't given basic rights. The manpower-starved rebels decided they would rather treat these prisoners badly than get any more of their captured idiots back. Despite that danger, these men fought valiantly, to the point that black regiments continued to exist after the war, up until the army was desegregated in 1947. And despite this, the war is depicted as brother against brother, white man vs white man. You know the 20th Maine, you know Gettysburg, you don't know the "5th United States Colored Cavalry"(yes that was the official designation, the word was not seen as offensive at the time)

Further, historical slaves are not considered American in popular history, they're seen as people who needed to be freed. They are not seen as our fellow countrymen in bondage, they're described as black people first, slaves second, and Americans a distant third. You see people ask why they didn't want to leave the country afterwards. Ask yourself, why would someone want to leave their native country? Lots of people hate what their home countries do, but still stay. Asking that question, and unwilling to ask the same of white people, kinda implies one doesn't view slaves as American. Many of the slaves had been there for generations. They are just as American as the Irishmen who got off the boat ten years before the war. Yet still people see them as somehow separate. Popular narratives see them as other at best, as kidnapped foreigners at worst. Popular history wants to see them as "not us", as something different, horrified that the US did this to 12% of its own people.

Yes, in 1860, 12% of the country was enslaved. 3 out of every 25 people in the US were enslaved. 1/3rd of the population of Virginia was slaves.

Yet somehow, popular narratives continually set slaves apart. The war is still seen as white man vs white man. A tacit support of the Lost Cause narrative claiming it was States' Rights.

The Irish, Italians, Germans, and basically most Eastern Europeans were not seen as American or even white for a lot of US history. That perception changed in the latter half of the 20th century. Attitudes toward Asian people changes depending on the day.

Yet when it comes to these sorts of contributions...even if seen as American they are a footnote.

I think it’s so interesting how once American minority groups get credit for ANYTHING they’ve done or created someone chimes in, suddenly insistant that they are Americans, the minority identity doesn’t matter anymore because they are AMERICAN and this is an American accomplishment for all Americans to claim.

[djsegwon]

Watch "Does It Matter If Your FBA, Freedmen, ADOS Or Negro Part 2" on YouTube

[reasoningdaily]

DCist: Art Installation Calls Out Community Erasure, Past And Present

In what is now known as Metropolitan Park — created in phase one of Amazon’s headquarters in Arlington —  a red brick tower stands resolute, reminding passersby that nearly a century ago a community was erased nearby.

The simple structure, which stands 35 feet tall in an area filled with high-rises and office buildings, seems lost in time. Its red brick exterior evokes a long-past, industrial era — one similar, maybe, to the era  East Arlington residents lived in.

When visitors step inside the sculpture, they’re greeted by 903 ceramic teardrop-shaped “vessels” — one for every displaced community member.

The space is quiet, intimate and — above all — inspiring. According to Durrett, who spoke in an interview with Street Sense Media, that’s exactly the point.

“I try to leave space for the viewer to experience awe,” Durrett said. “First you see this mundane brick structure that looks like it’s from some bygone period. And then you enter the space and you’re met with something completely unexpected. The viewer then has all of these questions, and then hopefully feels inspired to find the answers and then learn this history that so many people don’t know.”

That history is a tragic one. East Arlington was a victim of displacement long before the 1940s, according to a 2011 presentation by the Arlington Public Library. Many of its residents previously lived in Freedman’s Village, a post-emancipation attempt to house enslaved people, before they were forced out by the government — this time to build the Arlington National Cemetery.

The construction of the Pentagon, at the time the largest office building in the world, initially offered a welcome source of work for men in Queen City, according to Dr. Nancy Perry’s 2014 lecture at the Arlington Historical Society.

East Arlington residents worked on the construction of the Pentagon for months before they were informed that the project would unseat them from their home, Perry said. The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington notes that Queen City was specifically displaced for construction of the transportation corridor that would ferry commuters to the Pentagon.

Without the means to move their belongings, many families were forced to leave behind almost everything they owned, according to the lecture. They fled — first to different temporary housing sites, and then to different parts of the country. Many of them never saw their neighbors again.

It was that side of the tragedy — the human suffering — that the artist said she wanted to evoke. In addition to researching the historic community, Durrett arranged a meeting with one of its last living residents. Her conversation with 92-year-old William Vollin, she said, taught her more about Queen City than archives ever could.

“Being able to identify and speak with someone who has been carrying that history since they were 12 years old further humanized the experiences that those people would have gone through,” Durrett said. “When I was speaking to [Vollin], he didn’t recount losing his home or any material possessions. What he did speak about was the loss of his community. About how he never saw most of those people ever again. He speaks about the destruction of Queen City as though it just happened yesterday.”

But the sculpture is about more than a single community, Durrett said. According to data from the housing search site Apartment List, D.C.’s cost of living is 53% higher than the national average — one of the least affordable cities in the nation.

“Queen City” tells a story of Black displacement at a time when, according to analysis by the Urban Institute, the District’s Black population has been declining for decades. The sculpture, according to Durrett, teaches more than just history.

“The value of learning that history is connecting the dots, it’s seeing how this sort of erasure persists into the present day.”

To create the 903 teardrops that line the interior of “Queen City,” each representing a displaced resident, Durrett commissioned 17 Black ceramicists from across the country.

“One thing that I asked them,” said Durrett, “was to bring forward stories of a Queen City in their own community. Each and every one of them had one.”

Although the artists might have been aware of each other’s work, this was their first opportunity to work together, Durrett said. Each ceramicist had varying abilities and experience, especially with the teardrop-shaped vessels Durrett was requesting.

This led to a “beautiful thing” happening, Durrett said. The ceramicists, rather than working independently on their portion of the commission, collaborated. Artists with more expertise met with less confident ones, creating an atmosphere of compassion and partnership.

In the process of memorializing a community, Durrett said, they had become one themselves.

“Using community, the very thing that was destroyed when East Arlington was razed, to actually create something as grand and long-lasting as ‘Queen City,’ was beautiful,” Durrett said. “It’s not just about the thing, the object — it’s about the process of making it. It’s about showing what we’re all capable of when we work together.”

[kindtobechurlish]

I don’t like the idea of history books saying, “negroes put Africans in slavery with whites, and they did it to uplift the moral and conditions of Africans in Africa.” I am not fond of that, I don’t want some people to make an excuse as to why they do evil, and in the excuse it amounts to a wicked people being “straightened out.” That which is crooked cannot be made straight, that which is lacking cannot be counted. Right now, some woman, in the workplace, she is a maiden, and I would enable her to live a better life, but she doesn’t believe in sexual energy. I’m supposed to be excited when she learns of the west African charm, and she goes back to her roots from where I met her, and then another woman is jealous because she is the only reason her and I aren’t together. Some woman, she wants me to put her on display, and if I don’t do it I don’t get the treatment other people get. The monster can laugh with people, haha, and then remind me negroes were put in slavery, give me signs about a child, but when it comes down to her and I having a relationship – she wants your attention.. who ever you are

I would give a picture of slavery, all blacks in servitude with a few “freedmen”, and you see the climate of women. Instead of her and I getting together to say we’ll start our own “school of thought”, she’s Albert Pike. I’m made into a fetish, like Rebecca, and when I come down to talk about what I’m talking, “better to let the thing drift.” I would personify white nation, how it came to be, and everyone thinks they can be Germany. A white nation that wasn’t built on the idea of slavery, everyone works and the men are masculine as the women are feminine as “the best.” Today, people are wearing ball caps in buildings or their customer service is awful. I personify gentry, the lost cause, and now you see white man jobs for white man jobs, one restaurant employs the women, another doesn’t, and then there is ball cap babe wearing the ball cap like a negro wearing pink. If you see a negro wearing pink, that’s signal for Asian hate, while I am exposing that ball cap to you. People wearing ball cap in building, they hate where they work and want to be what they aren’t! Black man in a ball cap wants to be a white, white man in a ball cap wants to be a kike, kike in a ball cap wants to be black. And then in that, every one not white or of the said.. if they wear a ball cap they want to be white, it’s true.

Some negro with his ball cap, if the whites don’t accept him as special.. he’s a racist, and that’s that ball cap in buildings as that cynic can’t shower, get a hair cut, shave, and wear a ball cap just to go back to the same place a month straight the same. Now, I would know about that ball cap, and he would rather have sex with a white man than a white woman.. that is his special. Black ball cap boy wants white ball cap boy, white ball cap boy wants a Kike. And now you see it, ball cap babe, if she is white, she doesn’t want to be black, she wants to be a Kike. Some woman is being undermined, she isn’t going anywhere, and if I don’t talk about her being UNDERMINED she hates me. As that is, some woman says, “think about marrying me”, and she educated the white woman about stoicism. Now, people aren’t complaining just to give their signs. “This is my country”, and if they had a son they would want the child to go off and get a good paying job. Who wants to be black, with 1% making it to the NBA and the police making Black Lives Matter? Some people might not be racist like, “nigger”, but it could amount to, “who wants to be black?” Now, you see that ball cap. People want to be kikes, white, and Bill Blithé said he’ll help lie for you.

Woman wants me to talk about how she is being undermined, she sees the lost cause of the confederacy and blames me.. as all of these people not her race work with her. She’s at the best she can do, if she could be better she would be there, and that’s the ball cap. The regiment of blacks got freedom, and now a negro wears ball cap in building because he sees white do it in building. Where is that yid? And now you see, it’s hard to be accepted amongst the yid, and I did the necessary to get money out of puppets of the yid, and that’s that ball cap. The whites have to go to the yid for money, the blacks go to the whites, and the yids use the negroes to make money after the whites can only get the whites and the coloreds have their own society. Now, you see that stoic at work, she doesn’t want to think about this, but as you COULD see me to think I would say, “get rid of the negro”, I remind you that I am no better than the cynic as I am. Now, I personify the law of the God of Jeshurun just to highlight a tyrant and his tyranny.

[bigbadbruin343]

I feel like adding wealth, education and nativity would eliminate poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, the three primary tools used by the Jim Crow South to deny suffrage to newly freedmen, regardless of the argument made. Intent wouldn’t matter in my rewrite, only the effect. If it infringes on the right to vote for the reasons listed, it is unconstitutional. It’s similar to how the VRA was amended in the 80s to get rid of the need to prove intent and instead have only effect needing to be proven in response to Mobile v. Bolden (1980).

I do agree that adding legislation to enforce Section 3 of my rewrite would be important as well, but having a Constitutional Amendment that says the States cannot deny the right to vote due to wealth, nativity, and education would do wonders for legal challenges down the line, and not being able to dilute the power of black voters by redistricting would be great. And honestly, it might not stop the SCOTUS from striking down any legislation anyway, since they did just that in United States v. Reese (1876) by saying that the Fifteenth Amendment didn’t grant the right to vote to new freed African Americans, but rather that they couldn’t be excluded from voting on racial grounds and struck down Section 3 of the Enforcement Act of 1870.

At the very least, a Court like the Warren Court (and probably the Hughes, Stone and Vinson Courts) wouldn’t rule the way they did in Lassiter and other prior cases. And for the life of me I don’t get how Douglas, Brennan, and Warren, three hardcore liberals that voted to strike down poll taxes in state elections in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966) under the Fourteenth Amendment, upheld literacy tests.

The easiest one is that I'd replace the Eighteenth Amendment with nothing, because Prohibition was a mistake.

I agree with that, but is that it? No getting rid of the Electoral College and replacing it with a popular vote? Nothing else? Maybe a Civil Rights Clause for the Fourteenth Amendment?

A while ago I asked you if you could add one amendment to the US Constitution what would it be. He's another one relating to the Constitution with a twist, if you could go back in time and alter three articles and/or amendments at the time they were written which three would they be and why?

For example, I think the Fifteenth Amendment didn't go nearly far enough in protecting freedmen's right to vote. So I'd alter it to read:

Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account race, color, creed, wealth, education, previous condition of servitude or nativity.

Section 2: No State legislative district, nor any Congressional district, shall be drawn that dilutes the voice of citizens on account of race, color, creed, previous condition of servitude or nativity.

Section 3: The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The issue I see with this is that you have the same Amendment, just with an extra section that eliminates gerrymandering based on race. Problem I see with that is that circumventing that would be as simple as having an excuse that says "we're doing it for this reason and so it doesn't qualify." And as flimsy as that is, it will pass muster, because no legislator or political party is going to be willing to open up case law that prevents them from redistricting to secure their seat. "Literacy tests" were a bald-faced lie, but they still passed the Douglas Court in Lassiter. So I think that instead of writing a more thorough Fifteenth Amendment, what you need to do is really get Section Three into high gear by getting the legislation needed to enforce it on the ground running.

The easiest one is that I'd replace the Eighteenth Amendment with nothing, because Prohibition was a mistake.

Thanks for the question, Bruin.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King