Black Wall Street; Never Forgotten & Poem by A.J. Smitherson

I have quiet a few books on Black Wallstreet; a history forgotten. One I am currently reading sparked me to wanna write this post. For quotes from the book as well as many suggestions for related topic books and more, click here to view my Goodreads page and ADD ME! Please 🙂 

Quote From Current Book I’m Reading

The following is a poem written by a successful husband and father; a lawyer, journalist as well as having the honor to be there when the NAACP was founded, becoming one of the first people to join. A.J. Smitherson is his name, a name -among many others- that should be known to all, yet the history books somehow managed to add this bit of American history. Wonder why. 🙄

Mr. Smitherson did survive the attack on the successful Black community, thankfully, however he lost all he had worked for to  jealous bigots who wished they could be him, but knew they couldn’t ever accomplish what was being accomplished in Greenwood. Because of the success of him and many, many other Blacks living there, Mr. Smitherson was but one of a countless number of men and women that lost what they had worked so hard for; their lands, businesses, beautiful homes  and so forth, to envious racists, during what is called the Tulsa Riots. 

Greenwood, OK, or Black Wall Street, was burned and destroyed by these jealous cowards with no souls. The people behind it were nothing but cruel white losers whom felt envy and fear as well as unjustified hate towards the success in the Black community.  Why so many whites feared/fear this I don’t understand and probably never will.

Don’t mistake me; I understand the reasons that are obvious among that sort; they didn’t want to see the Black community thriving. But what I do not understand & never will is why this is an issue that upsets them? Black success is human success; we should be happy anytime a community gets together and creates something better than what was, especially at that time. 

One day Black “Wallsteet” will rise again and when it does, I know where all my money will be spent shopping. As a child I dedicated my life to fighting hate and racism and I would fight to the end to see this again. Er, by that I mean; I would fight and die happily to see many and more Black Wall Streets pop up all over America, with no chance of pathetic, jealous creatures ripping it apart or burning it down by mindless morons. 

Below is a poem written by Mr. A.J. Smitherson after the riots. What a disgraceful, sick and hate filled world this is. 

*

Whence those sounds in all directions 

Firearms cracking everywhere; 

Men and women all excited, 

Cries of rioting fill the air.
Men with guns and ammunition, 

Rushing madly to the fray, 

Shooting, cursing, laughing, crying, 

“Come on, boys, come on this way!”
“They are trying to lynch our comrade, 

Without cause in law defi; 

Get your guns and help defend him; 

Let’s protect him, win or die.
‘Twas the cry of Negro manhood, 

Rallying to the cause of right, 

Readying to suppress the lawless, 

Anxious for a chance to fight.
So they marched against the mobbists 

Gathered now about the jail, 

While the sheriff stood there pleading, 

Law and order to prevail.
Thus responding to their duty,

Like true soldiers that they were,

Black men face the lawless white men

Under duty’s urgent spur.
Cries of “Let us have the nigger”

“Lynch him, kill him” came the shout,

And at once there came an answer

When a sharp report rang out
“Stand back men, there’ll be no lynching”

Black men cried, and not in fun

Bang! Bang! Bang! three quick shots followed,

And the battle had begun.
In the fusillade that followed,

Four white lynchers kissed the dust,

Many more fell badly wounded,

Victims of their hellish lust.
Quick they fled in all directions,

Panic stricken, filled with fear,

Leaving their intended victim,

As the news spread far and near.
Scattered now in great confusion

Filled with vengeance all anew

Leaders of the lynching party

Planned for something else to do.
“Blacks prevent a Negro’s lynching”

Read a bold newspaper head,

In an extra night edition,

“Fifty Whites reported dead”.
Rallied now with reinforcements

Brave (?) white men five thousand strong

Marched upon the Black defenders

With their usual battle song:
“Get the niggers” was their slogan,

“Kill them, burn them, set the pace.

Let them know that we are white men,

Teach them how to keep their place.
“Forward! March! ! command was given,

And the tread of feet was heard,

Marching on the Colored district,

In protest there came no word.
In the meantime rabid hoodlums

Now turned loose without restraint

Helped themselves to things of value

More than useless to complain.

were taken by the hundreds,

Ammunition all in sight

Reign of murder, theft and plunder

Was the order of the night.
But our boys who learned the lesson

On the blood-stained soil of France,

How to fight on the defensive

Purposed not to take a chance.
Like a flash they came together,

Word was passed along the line:

“No white man must cross the border;

Shoot to kill and shoot in time!”
“Ready, Fire!” and then a volley

From the mob whose skins were white

“Give ’em hell, boys”, cried the leader,

“Soon we’ll put ’em all to flight”.
But they got a warm reception

From black men who had no fear,

Who while fighting they were singing:

“Come on Boys, the Gang’s all here.”
Rapid firing guns were shooting,

Men were falling by the score,

‘Till the white men quite defeated

Sent the word “We want no more.”
Nine p.m. the trouble started,

Two a.m. the thing was done.

And the victory for the black men

Counted almost four to one.
Then the white went into council,

Hoping to reprise their loss,

Planned the massacre that followed,

Dared to win at any cost.
June the First, at five a.m.

Three long whistle blasts were heard,

Giving sign for concert action

To that cold blood-thirsty herd.
At the signal from the whistle

Aeroplanes were seen to fly,

Dropping bombs and high explosives,

Hell was falling from the sky.
On all sides the mob had gathered

Talking in excited tones

With machine guns, ready. mounted,

Trained upon a thousand homes.

A Powerful Poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar

I was reading through Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry book and wanted to post a poem from him. Finally I decided on this one, though it’s very tragic and very heartbreaking, it also is sadly true. He is a poet that needs be remember more often, and this poem is so powerful because of the content; the content of the poem should make one cry. It did me.

The content is heartbreaking and though now a days there are new methods doing the same tragic thing to innocent men and women…

Truth hurts. And so below is the poem that hit me so hard tonight… It is called ‘The Haunted Oak’ by Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar: Never Forget!!!

The Haunted Oak

Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;
And why, when I go through the
shade you throw,
Runs a shudder over me?

My leaves were green as the best,
I trow,
And sap ran free in my veins,
But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird
A guiltless victim’s pain.

I bent me down to hear his sigh;
I shook with his gurgling moan,
And I trembled sore when they
rode away,
And left him here alone.

They’d charged him with the old,
old crime,
And set him fast in jail;
Oh why does the dog howl all night long,
And why does the night wind wail?

He prayed his prayer and he swore
his oath,
And he raised his hand to the sky;
But the beat of hoofs smote on his
ear,
And the stead tread drew nigh.

Who is it rides by night, by night,
Over the moonlit road?
And what is the spur that keeps
the pace,
What is the galling goad?

And now they beat at the prison door,
“Ho, keeper, do not stay!
We are friends of him whom you
hold within,
And we fain would take him
away

“From those who ride fast on our
heels
With mind to do him wrong;
They have no care for his innocence,
And the rope they bear is long.”

They have fooled the jailer with
lying words,
They have fooled the man with
lies;
The bolts unbar, the locks are
drawn,
And the great door open flies.

Now they have taken him from the jail,
And hard and fast they ride,
And the leader laughs low down
in his throat,
As they halt my trunk beside.

Oh, the judge he wore a mask of black,
And the doctor one of white,
And the minister, with his oldest
son,
Was curiously bedight.

Oh, foolish man, why weep you
now?
‘T is but a little space,
And the time will come when these
shall dread
The mem’ry of your face.

I feel the rope against my bark,
And the weight of him in my grain,
I feel in the throe of his final woe
The touch of my own last pain.

And never more shall leaves come
forth
On a bough that bears the ban;
I am burned with dread, I am
dried and dead,
From the curse of a guiltless man.

And ever the judge rides by, rides by
And goes to hunt the deer,
And ever another rides his soul,In the guise of a mortal fear.

And ever the man he rides me
hard,
And never a night stays he;
For I feel his curse as a haunted
bough,
On the trunk of a haunted tree.

Black Poetry Writing Month: Write a Song for the Field Slaves

Now this is a good idea for a writing prompt or any form of art prompt really.

However, the thing is, this tragically still is happening right now just under a different name. Slavery and the exploiting labors that brought so much money in to the very White House and National Mall in Washington, D.C., wouldn’t be here if not for the souls whom were sold to the government to build at the cheapest of cheap price; which the Black man would not every get to see.

Most of what this country has is due to the men and women of this era yet we have one puny month to honor the history and culture of Blacks in America? When is “white history month” I hear people moan; every single month, every single day, you dumb ass! Seriously! Though we must never forget the horrors these men, women and children faced, we must also remember that even the month given to “Black history” is a sham. How many people can say they learned this tiny bit of information in school, even during “Black History Month”?

There is so much more to “Black History” than a couple of weeks cannot shove it all in, but they don’t even try! It’s Dr. King, slavery, civil rights.

Sadly, again, as I originally said…. the souls in this photo are being forced to do work for free; in America right now for something as stupid as a person caught with weed, or even more tragic is when the person goes to jail on mandatory; silence is heard. Here, where the Black population is highly and sickeningly overflowing (this and drugs all the way to Black on Black crime, can find root within the marked out lines of FOIA FBI papers where Hoover blatantly, even between the lines with no heart or shame, calls upon the American FBI to “divide and conquer the Black community”). The CIA admits its role in planting crack and guns into Black ghettos. What more evidence is needed?

Slavery? Racism? That doesn’t exist anymore, too many dismiss. I look at you and smile not; racism and slavery exists more than ever because it is hidden in plain sight.

Oh but wait; it isn’t over. The prison industry and the Private Prisons make this “free labor, slave labor” all obtainable again. BLACK MEN BUILT THE CAPITOL -check it out here on goodreads. This is the kinda history I want to know. What else are you trying to hide, America??

 

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: Black Poetry Writing Month: Write a Song for the Field Slaves

Interview with Immortal Tech & WHY Banning Guns Will Not Work & More.

One of the few real rappers left talks about gun violence, America’s love for violence and why banning guns will not change it. To add to what he says, I just gotta say… A violent person is gonna find a way to be violent. As he goes on to say, American’s don’t care about kids in other countries getting killed, but kids getting killed in America or in England, that’s a horror! Kids dying, people dying, anywhere is a tragedy… Not just here in the US or UK.

If for some reason you don’t know who he is, he is not a rapper who raps about gun toting, money and whores. He speaks of knowledge, truth and with a ton of wisdom. This is a video definitely worth checking out no matter where you stand on guns; all people, but especially if you are not from the poor areas of the USA. We need to address this issue ourselves; cops and the government will just turned banned weapons into the new “war on drugs” aka “war on the people”- simply giving them a new means to lock people up in their money making prison industry.

And for 

Daily Prompt: Personal Space

* I love this! Gonna give this daily prompt a shot 😀 ->>

I write more so for my own enjoyment than to gain readers, I believe which is probably a fault. The articles I post or write are so vital to me, but at the same time, I can’t water down my anger and outrage over certain issues anymore than I can sugar-coat my strong feelings for women’s rights and my hatred for racism. With that said… I suppose it is my personal space above all else because I say what I want to say, I don’t expect anyone to read it but I am so honored and thrilled when people do… I also love meeting like minds.

The line of it being *my* personal space, however, as opposed to an interactive debate forum is pretty much said in that sentence… I don’t really debate on my page as I feel they can go and write their own post disagreeing on their page. There is a reason for this, and the reason is while I don’t mind healthy debate, I actually enjoy it; I can’t stand hatred and mindless comments.

If we disagree that’s fine, that’s how life is. But I don’t tolerate hateful comments or comments that would hurt other people who read my blog and may be in some way hurt by what is said. Generally I don’t respond to hateful words but I have my weak moments.

I am a very opinionated person, so it is very hard for me to keep my site “attractive” to readers. The things I write about are very touchy subjects, I feel, and I do respect all who come to my page as long as they aren’t there to be mean. I believe our websites/blogs should be a place of self-expression, or in my case, news… News with my opinion all over it. That’s okay; somewhere out there is a page just like mine in idea, but totally the opposite in content. I feel it is a bit intrusive of readers to post hateful, mindless or untrue comments in an attempt to mislead readers or hurt readers (as no matter how mean they are, they no longer hurt me).

So, in sum, as long as disagreement is kept at an adult level and healthy my personal space is open… But the moment they bring negative hate or anything of the like into it…it becomes much like my own personal room and I want to be able to shut them out. Outside of “my world” they can say anything they want in their space, but not in my space… In my space, I can’t tolerate hate when so many of the things I write about bring sadness and tragedy due to mindless, ignorant hate.

There is enough hatefulness in this world, enough judgment. So, unless you can say something productive, on my page, in my “world”, don’t say anything at all because you won’t be approved 😛

Ahhh I loved that ! Must do this more 🙂