Hungry Blues - Latest Comments

Re: Podcast: Interview with Ben Chaney

joshua — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:23:50 -0000

today, june 21st, is the 45th anniversary of the three civil rights workers killed in mississipi during freedom summer in 1964. james chaney, andrew goodman, michael schwerner, one african american and two jewish americans were beaten and shot outside of philadelphia missippi, neshoba county. they were coming from investigating a fire at mt. zion church.

the deaths of chaney, goodman and schwerner brought a different level of publicity to the civil rights/voting rights movement. in 1994 i had a number of phone conversations with james chaney's younger brother, ben chaney jr. i was hoping to attend the 30th anniversary in mississipi. although i didn't make it, it was very interesting and inspiring to speak to ben, whose whole life is dedicated to properly memorializing the three workers.

i read an article about his 'freedom ride' voter registration tour in 2004
http://www.duckdaotsu.org/080104-freedom-riders...
and the challenges of educating people about the importance of this history. we live in very different times. when people were killed back then it was big news and really meant something. these young idealistic people represented the best of america. there are a number of books about 'freedom summer'.

i hope that ben chaney jr. will make a documentary,( even begin a series on a youtube channel which could include footage from all his activities) about his life's efforts to tell the story and move the process forward so that justice will be served. the torah says: justice, justice shall you pursue. and the word for 'justice' also means righteousness.

Re: Podcast: Interview with Ben Chaney

joshua — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:43:21 -0000

thanks for posting this interview, ben. i had several phone conversations with ben chaney jr. back in 1994. i admire his steadfast dedication to properly memorializing his brother, andrew and mickey. his efforts at educating people about the history of that time should be supported and more people should know the stories of what happenned. it is an important part of american history.

Re: More Arrests on Coal River Valley as Actions Against Mountaintop Removal and Coal Sludge Dams Continue

Ash-Lee H. — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:50:12 -0000

Thanks so much for posting Ben! We still have folks in jail and are fundraising like crazy to get them out. Check out www.mountainjustice.org and www.climategroundzero.org for updates and to donate.

Re: Declaration of Robert R. Elliott on New Orleans Public Housing

extremesteam — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:33:43 -0000

all

Re: Mother Sues Florida School Board over Police Handcuffing of Her Kindergartner

Stevo — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:51:04 -0000

I can't deliver the law suit against the school board is for $15,000, that seems obscenely low. I have never heard about this case, thanks for bringing it up.

Re: 90

Brandon — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:02:48 -0000

Happy Birthday Pete Seeger!

Re: Alyssa Peterson’s Suicide

bettyboop2009 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:25:43 -0000

As torture is against the law, and this is what Alyssa was witnessing on a continual scale, then obviously, if she said anything, she would be potentially endangering herself. This is obvious, and interesting that she was told to go look at a film on suicide. This is just too glib. Besides, most women would not kill themselves in the manner in which she did. I hardly think this is a suicide.

Re: Mother Sues Florida School Board over Police Handcuffing of Her Kindergartner

Brandon — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:50:09 -0000

What horrid stuff!! A pithy 18k and no justice whatsoever! Thanks for the info!

Re: Man Who Beat John Lewis in 61 Apologizes in 09

Jeff — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:19:16 -0000

Ben, you've been hoodwinked. The only reason Elwin Wilson is repenting and apologizing is because he believes he can still save his soul. In other words, this latest action on his part is as self-interested and selfish as the the ideology of white superiority that dominated his thinking and his behavior for decades.

Some people are calling him a hero. What they forget is that Elwin Wilson always had choices. He chose to be a racist. He chose to act on that racism by assaulting, both verbally and physically, people he disagreed with or simply didn't like. True heroism would have been to choose otherwise. What he's doing now is driven by fear. Maybe if our society had been more just, more truly democratic, he might have had something to fear from his neighbors, from his townsfolk, from the local authorities, from his state, or from his country. He felt no fear then, and chose to act accordingly. He feels fear now, and is acting accordingly. Hero? This man is nothing but a coward, through and through.

May his quest fail, and his soul burn in the fires of Hell for all eternity.

Re: Man Who Beat John Lewis in 61 Apologizes in 09

Jason — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 21:14:15 -0000

Good for Mr. Elwin Wilson! If only all of the other racist people, and I mean all angles of racism, out there would realize what he has taken so long to realize. Hatred for someone based on their skin color is just plain ignorant. It is not good for your soul to harbor such hatred. Congratulations Mr. Wilson. I am happy for your life altering realization.

Re: 1964 Recording of MLK Discovered at University of Dayton

Brandon — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:02:09 -0000

Thanks for this!

Re: Cold-Case List Omits Many Names

Bluz — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:06:49 -0000

I saw that! You've become one of the go-to people with the research you've done. Good job, Ben!

Re: Podcast: Interview with Ben Chaney

will i am — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:50:13 -0000

Ben Chaney discusses the importance of belated prosecutions of suspects in Civil Rights era crimes ------------- thanks for this...

Re: Barack Obama for the Generations

dfillingham — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:40:00 -0000

This is very emotional for me too Ben. I was eleven when the washington march in 1963 happened, and my parents took me to it. I was captivated by him, and I remember my parents were jumping up and down. We felt safe with the black people, and felt afraid of the strange white people there, who I later learned were ordinary people who cared about racism.

Our neighbor susan comes from a racist family in Georgia, and has worked on racism all her life. She is one of some friends coming to our house for an Obama celebration Sunday.

I hope you find the killers you are looking for. I wish my parents were around now to meet you.

Re: Y-Love

Jesse — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:51:14 -0000

The NJPS is very useful in someways but has been horrible about under counting Jews living in poverty. There are a variety of issues about how the economic portion of the survey was done (long form vs. short form and how selection for each was done for example). Still, there is much to learn from it as long as you are aware of the blinders that happen in our community just as in other communities.

Re: Y-Love

minorjive — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:58:15 -0000

Thanks, Jesse, for pointing this out about the NJPS.

Re: Y-Love

minorjive — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:45:27 -0000

Thanks for stopping by to comment. Have a Happy, music-filled, New Year! Hoping 2009 is a time of change and progress.

Re: Y-Love

Y-Love — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:47:14 -0000

One love for the shoutout. The National Jewish Population Survey is horribly slept on in my opinion and more people should realize its significance to American Jews.

Re: Barack Obama for the Generations

Marcia Hamilton — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:30:55 -0000

And now I have found this! One of the last things William said to me when I asked what would happen now to the civil rights movement, when Nixon got elected in 68, and he said, "we'll go underground for 20 years...." Well, it's 40 and Obama is our president and part of the reason is all the beatings William took in the front lines of those marches. What a smart, kind man he was.
Marcia Hamilton
Do you have a picture of him?

Re: William J. Douthard (aka “Meatball”), Jan. 6, 1947 - Jan. 4, 1981

Marcia Hamilton — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:14:20 -0000

Dear Ben...I don't know if you are still doing this.; I was glad to see your blog about William...who was my boyfriend off and on from 1968-1973...in NYC when he was James Farmer's campaign manager, in Jim's run against Shirley Chisholm. I was thinking about William, who really loved my baby (now 35 year old son) ...and wondered what happened to his son!

Re: William J. Douthard (aka “Meatball”), Jan. 6, 1947 - Jan. 4, 1981

minorjive — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:23:11 -0000

Marcia, thank you for leaving this comment. Currently my work is more
focused on unresolved racial violence from the 50s and 60s in
Mississippi—but I am still working on my dad's story and am still very
interested in William's story. I'll drop you a line over email.

Re: Scott B. Smith and Linda Dehnad

Daisuke Kawasaki — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:31:59 -0000

I was a student of Linda Dehnad at Kansai Gaidai Hawaii College from 95-97.
When I first met Linda at her class, I think that was my 3rd term, I encountered "freedom" for the first time in my life.
She did give us homework, of course, and she graded us although she trully hated doing so.
She let us write whatever came up to our minds; and I did, and she liked it. She was and always was encouraging.
Once she showed in class a video about the Statue of Liberty, and I was struck somehow by James Baldwin describing as emancipation of slaves as an "irony to slaves." I became interested in African American literature.

We stayed in touch even after I transferred to Univ. of Georgia. I wrote my troubles, and she always wrote back.
She always wrote long emails; which was fun to read and beautifully written. Her writing had a rhythm and I learned so much about writing, unconsciously, from her emails.
When I had hard time writing essays, blaming myself, she always came up to my mind saying "Daisuke! you're writing very well" with a big "Linda" smile that makes her look like she was astonished.
After graduation, I visisted Linda in LA on my way back home to Japan. She kept open her apartment's door so that I could get into her place as I arrived there at 11pm or so. I spent several days with her, driving her BMW and also washing it.
We laughed a lot. (and I was coughing a lot maybe because of her cat. I do not remember she had only one cat or two.)

We stayed in touch even after I came back to Japan. She told me about SNCC reunion in Raleigh in April 2000, and I went there. The reunion was a blast, songs start from nowhere and enveloped all of us, with a sense of unity and so much love.
I and Linda stayed in the same room. Once I was calling the desk from the room, and she complimented me how fluent I sounded as I hung up the phone saying, "appreciate it." As SNCC reunion days ended, we parted at the hotel lobby. That became my last moment that I physically saw Linda.

Until a few weeks before her death, we wrote each other. and I cherish her emails, and I always remember Linda as a wonderful teacher and person, and a person who loved me and who influenced my life.

Re: Census Bureau’s Own Study Says Bureau Should Stop Miscounting Prisoners

lineage adena — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:53:15 -0000

Man! This stuff about your Father and Frankie Newton is so moving and beautiful! I've just been listening to the Jasmine set, and it inspired me to Google in the hopes of finding more about Frankie's activist side. Bless the Internet! My Mother, Corrine, died a year and a half ago. She was an activist in many domains - especially Feminism. She was at NYU, class of '49, and her friend Millie Schoenbaum dated Frankie she told me once, in passing (!!!). I asked to ask Millie more about it, but she never did...Any more you can tell me would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Census Bureau’s Own Study Says Bureau Should Stop Miscounting Prisoners

lineage adena — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:45:01 -0000

Jonathan, as seems to frequently be the case, Mississippi set the example for everyone else on how to maintain segregation and discrimination.

Re: Haley Barbour Wants to Divert Even More CDBG Katrina Funds from Low-Income Housing

DeGuyz — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:15:33 -0000

The Mississsippi Center for Justice recently received a case out of Pearl River County for review. Hopefully it will aid in their investigstions concerning the misuse of CDBG Funds and possibly assist in their pursuit of the truth. Pearl River County was included in the Proclimation signed by President George W. Bush. This case had been set aside by the MDA eventhough it was approved through a Federal Appeal in June, 2007. No assistance was ever offered since landfall in 8-2005 from the State, in fact denying two terminally ill citizens and a caretaker of much needed assistance as perscribed by law. I just found this site and i thank you for the information you have here. Pandora's box is opening on the State of Mississippi and their alleged misuse of CDBG funds. Check and Mate