Archive for the Category »KingDrMartinL «

Print This Post Print This Post
Knights o’ the Post…
25
October

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when I read in a recent issue of the Memphis Commercial Appeal that one of the most iconic of movement photographers, Ernest C. Withers, was apparently a closely-supervised, paid informant for the FBI: #ME-338-R.  (The R is for Race.)

The news media has so far gathered FOIA files of his informant status for the years 1968 thru 1970.  While thousands of pages have been revealed, the FBI refuses to release other documents.

As far as the civil rights and black movement was concerned, Withers and his camera were everywhere.  Dying back in 2007 at 85, he had covered everything from the old Negro League baseball and the Memphis Blues scene, to the Emmett Till case (1955), Little Rock high school integration (1957), Ole Miss and James Meredith in ’62, up thru the last hours of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in ’68.  Withers learned his craft in the Army during World War II. more…

Share
Category: COINTELPRO, KingDrMartinL, Snitching, WithersErnestC  Leave a Comment
Print This Post Print This Post
Marchin’ vs. Shufflin’…
20
September

On one occasion I was invited to speak to an assembly at the prison chapel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Apparently, I was the only prisoner in a camp of over 800 souls who had actually marched with Dr. King.

Almost all of the campers present were black.  The majority had not been born when Dr. King was assassinated (1968).  As Dr. King would say, “Longevity has its uses…”

I’d like to be able to write that that my short speech included how “acting black” is one of the greatest tricks perpetrated on the African-American.

Despite the intervention of perceptive black leadership, many inmates continue to employ the “nigger” and “monkey ass” vernacular incessantly.

It’s difficult to even get to lunchtime without hearing the epithets–both in casual conversation and as invective–constantly.  Jim Crow is quite alive and well even in the black culture. more…

Share
Category: JimCrow, KingDrMartinL, Prison & Race  Leave a Comment