“Can That Be Called Violence?” 0

I received an email recently from a friend of mine (it was not sent solely to me; I was but one of a number of addressees).

I met him some years ago. shortly after I moved to these parts, when I worked on his sadly unsuccessful campaign for local office; we have stayed in sporadic touch since then.

My most vivid memory of him is of the time we dining with a black woman, a mutual acquaintance and political activist, who had grown up in Connecticut; we were trying to explain to her what is was like to live under Jim Crow, he from his perspective as an African American sailor stationed in these parts in those days and me as a white guy, a native Southerner, who grew up under Jim Crow and went to segregated schools.

I am sharing this with his permission. It’s a powerful letter; because of its length, I’ve placed most of it below the fold.

I Too Am Human!

America’s problem with race has deep roots, with the country’s foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people [Native American] and the enslavement of another [African American]. Racism is truly our nation’s original sin….with many more sins as follow-up. To make it lasting, they made it systemic. Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist environment.

What I just said sounds a lot like violence to me!

What escapes many people is that the whimsical killing of enslaved Blacks in this country during slavery, and even after, by white folks, without punitive consequence, is based on laws passed by white politicians, who happened to be plantation owners as well. Can that be called violence?

Most white Americans are often shielded from other, less obvious, attacks of American race violence. When black people are more likely to be executed, that is state-sponsored homicidal violence. When black men are subject to random “stop and frisk,” a clear violation of their physical integrity, that is physical violence. When black families are denied fair housing, employment opportunities, and access to loans, that is economic violence. When entire black communities are endangered by poisoned air and water, that is environmental violence. And, when black mothers fear that their children who step out of their homes may never return to those homes, that is emotional and spiritual violence. The fact is, when we, black parents, have to have “that conversation” with our child that is psychological violence. For sure, I can have a good conversation with you about violence….if you like.

One such devious law is the Casual Killing Act of 1669 which declared it legal to kill a slave while correcting because malice could not be presumed. The “casual killing of slaves” says that if a slave dies while resisting his master, the act will not be presumed to have occurred with “predetermined malice.” Can that be seen as violence?

The men of the General Assembly of Virginia completely removed the penalty for those who by chance murdered a slave in the process of punishment as the Black laborer was deemed to be ‘property.’ The question is why? What was the real motivation? And, can that be seen as violence?

Other slave laws passed in Virginia showed the disregard for human life and how different chattel slavery in this country when compared to other forms of slavery practiced on continental Africa.

By 1672 it became legal to wound or kill an enslaved person who resists arrest. Legislators also deem that the owner of any slave killed as he resisted arrest will receive financial compensation for the loss of an enslaved laborer. Legislators also offer a reward to Indians who capture escaped slaves and return them to a justice of the peace. Can anyone detect the violence here?

Earlier in 1639/40 – the General Assembly of Virginia specifically excludes Blacks from the requirement of possessing arms and crucially in 1662 – Blacks face the possibility of life servitude. The General Assembly of Virginia decided that any child born to an enslaved woman will also be a slave. Do I detect planned and intentional violence here?

There were Slave Laws which further restricted freedom of Blacks and legalized different treatment for Blacks and Whites. And, if you preferred not to be a slave that decision could cost you your life. Isn’t that violence?

1667 – Virginia lawmakers say baptism does not bring freedom to Blacks. The statute is passed because some slaves used their status as a Christian in the 1640s and 1650s to argue for their freedom or for freedom for a child. Legislators also encouraged slave owners to Christianize their enslaved men, women and children. Is this more violence here?

1668 – Free black women, like enslaved females over the age of 16, are deemed tithable. The Virginia General Assembly said freedom does not exempt black women from taxation. Do you think the punishment would be more violence?

1680 – Virginia’s General Assembly restricts the ability of slaves to meet at gatherings, including funerals. It became legal for any white person to kill an escaped slave who resists capture. Slaves also are forbidden to: arm themselves for either offensive or defensive purposes. Punishment: 20 lashes on one’s bare back. Try to be the free person described in the law of the land and then isn’t that more violence?

“leave the plantation without the written permission of one’s master, mistress or overseer. Punishment: 20 lashes on one’s bare back. More and more violence?

“… lift up his hand against any Christian.” Punishment: 30 lashes on one’s bare back.” Didn’t the law of the land grant the right to pursue religion of choice? Oh my, more violence?

1691 – Any white person married to a black or mulatto is banished and a systematic plan is established to capture “outlying slaves.”
If an outlying slave is killed while resisting capture, the owner receives financial compensation for the laborer. Here again, violence and paid for at that…..are you tired of this violence?

Partners in an interracial marriage cannot stay in the colony for more than three months after they marry. What violence would happen to them?

A fine of 15 pounds sterling is levied on an English woman who gives birth to a mulatto child. The fine is to be paid within a month of the child’s birth. If a woman cannot pay the fine, she is to serve five years as an indentured servant. If the mother is an indentured servant, she faces an additional five years of servitude after the completion of her initial indenture. Twenty (20) years for having a child? I consider that violence also?

A mulatto child born to a white indentured servant will serve a 30-year indenture. Forced child violence?

A master must transport an emancipated slave out of Virginia within six months of receiving his or her freedom. Probably more violence if I walked alone….. sort of what black people are seeing somewhere in this country everyday. Walking while black, driving while black, bicycling while black…..etc. more violence.

1692 – Slaves are denied the right to a jury trial for capital offenses. A minimum of four justices of the peace hear evidence and determine the fate of the accused. Legislators also decide that enslaved individuals are not permitted to own horses, cattle and hogs after December 31 of that year.

1705 – Free men of color lose the right to hold public office.

1705 – Blacks — free and enslaved — are denied the right to testify as witnesses in court cases.

1705 – All black, mulatto, and Indian slaves are considered real property.

1705 – Enslaved men are not allowed to serve in the militia.

1705 – In an act concerning Servants and Slaves, Virginia’s lawmakers: increased the indenture of a mulatto child born to a white woman to 31 years.

Determine that if a white man or white woman marries a black partner, the white individual will be sent to jail for six months and fined 10 pounds current money of Virginia.

Determine that any minister who marries an interracial couple will be charged a fine of 10,000 pounds of tobacco.

Determine that any escaped slave who is unwilling or unable to name his or her owner will be sent to the public jail.

Why do I keep hearing people talk about black violence. Well just maybe we learned here in this country. Maybe it’s learned by years of example.

So people, since I keep hearing the complaint that you are tired of the violence. Well, try dealing with it for 400 years. I repeat, I will be glad to have a conversation with you about violence, if you like. Yes, I admit, sometimes black people get so tired of it we feel like tearing the whole thing up…..that we have built! Yes, black folk built America by toiling in the cotton fields, the tobacco fields, the rice fields, on the docks, on the plantation, in the big houses from sun up to sun down seven days a week. Yes, we built America with our labor, with our mind and the many inventions we couldn’t patent or claim.

While there are many that don’t agree, I too, am granted the right to disagree, to protest, to wish for and demand a better life. Does not our Declaration of Independence say; “All men are created equal?” Does it not say: “All men have certain unalienable rights?” I have a right, in fact, a duty, to fight….if not as a soldier somewhere around the world, surely on the streets of America for those rights, for my family, my children, grand children, great grand children and all of those that come behind me.

We the people, black people, we were here among and a part of the pilgrims, the colonist, the cowboys, the inventors and yes, even soldiers of the west in the 9th and 10th calvary, and the 24th and 25th infantry. Yes, we built America, with our broad shoulders and strong backs, with our black hands, with our blood….. we have earned whatever privilege we enjoy. We were here! Building and making America great. We were here, tired of hundreds of years of slavery and de-humanization. We were here, and with our tears we have watered this land a hundred times over. With our sweat we have replenished the rivers – yes, we built America! It is our home.

I think of the country of Thomas Payne, Franklin, Susan Anthony, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. I further understand Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knowing what side of the trajectory of justice we should be on.

While still impatient, I continue to push forward for the success of this ongoing experiment in human dignity, freedom of thought and free will, called democracy. I understand the wisdom of Frederick Douglass who said, “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end of it fastened about his own neck.” So true, especially at a time such as this.

My America will know when it’s time to pick up a rifle and fight tyranny, even as it struggles with the desire to use the rifle in evil ways. And, perhaps my America will see a time when we can put down the rifle for the last time.

My America knows that it’s future is in becoming “OUR” AMERICA with no adjectives, embracing all, shouldered by those who are strong and caring for those who are weak.

During my life’s journey, I have many times had to stand on the shoulders of giants. It is my hope that I can provide shoulders for others that come after me.

I close this writing with a statement and a question: My country “tears” of thee…..where is my democracy…..for I too am human?