A Negro’s Life Is Worth More Than A Football Game.

[i]“To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.” Oration.
[ii]Austin Knoblauch, “NFL Owners Approve National Anthem Policy For 2018”, NFL.com, May 23, 2018,
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000933971/article/nfl-owners-approve-national-anthem-policy-for-2018. The NFL national anthem policy requires players stay in the locker rooms if they do not want to stand for the national anthem. All players and personnel at the sidelines must stand for the national anthem. If the player chooses to protest on the sideline, the NFL will fine the team.
[iii] Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the Rochester’s Ladies Anti-Slavery Society Fourth of July Meeting celebrating the national anniversary, held on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, NY delivered in Corinthian Hall. Douglass invited his friend and colleague S. D. Porter, Esq. to read the Declaration of Independence prior to his Oration. letter from Franklin Douglass to S.D. Porter, Esq. pdf https://www.library.rochester.edu/blog/Frederick-Douglass-Independence. Bowman, Patricia G., University of Rochester Library Bulletin: Frederick Douglass, Fourth of July Oration, 1852, Volume XIX, Spring 1964, Number 3, https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2475. Visit the University of Rochester Frederick Douglass Project https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2494 which holds a large digitized and original collection of Douglass’ letters and writings including Oration.
[iv] An “Oration” is defined as “an elaborate discourse delivered in a formal and dignified manner.” Merriam-Webster online dictionary. “Discourse” in this sense is defined as a “formal and orderly and usually extended expression of thought on a subject”. Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Douglass’ 39-page discourse is called Oration because it is meant to be a formal and extended protest/discussion delivered in a dignified manner. Mr. Douglass’ Oration can be divided into the following parts: 1) [History of the American Revolution]; 2) Present [Meaning of the Fourth of July to American Slave]; 3) Internal Slave Trade [Slave Trade and Fugitive Slave Law 1850]; 4) Religious Liberty; 5) the Church’s role; 6) Religion in England and Religion in America [national inconsistencies in the treatment of Blacks against whites]; 7) Constitution.
[v] Oration focuses on American slavery but Mr. Douglass and other Black abolitionists and persons were concerned about all of the above-mentioned abuses and injustices.  see Frederick Douglass, J.M. Whitfield, H.O Wagoner, Rev. A. N. Freeman, George B. Vashon, Claims of our Common Cause: Address of the Colored Convention held in Rochester, July 6-8, 1853, to the People of the United States, Proceedings of the Colored National Convention Held in Rochester, July 6th, 7th and 8th, 1853, Rochester, 1853.  https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4368.  Clearly these issues were part of his message.  Many are identical to the ones we face today, including relocation.  Back then it was called “colonization”.  There was a push in both the Northern and Southern states to deport free Blacks to Africa.  The North, while on paper was sometimes better than the South, was home to great hostility and animosity toward the free Black population.  This legacy of relocation as the answer to Blacks in the North can clearly be seen in today’s push of Blacks from the urban cores across the Northern and West Coast cities of the Great Northern Migration.  As I have written in prior blogs, i.e., BRIH-Ch. 2. Black Relocation Is the Result of the New Urbanites and Developers Increasing Pressure on Black Communities to Provide Cheap Reserve Housing to Supply Their Urban Dream by Combining Increasing Rents/Housing Costs With Police Brutality and , Cashing in on Jim Crow, Urban Decay, Greed and Police Brutality in Los Angeles-Hot “Renewal” Markets and New Urbanites., New York, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Oakland have relocated their Black populations. Natalie Hopskinson “Farewell, Chocolate City”, New York Times, June 3, 2012;  Maura Dolan, “San Francisco’s Black Population Dwindling”, The Seattle Times, May 11, 2015,   http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/san-franciscos-black-population-dwindling/;  Nadre Nittle, “Will San Francisco’s Black Population Vanish as City’s Wealth Rises?”, Atlanta Black Star, October 13, 2015, http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/10/13/will-san-franciscos-black-population-vanish-citys-wealth-rises/;  Jaithe Har, “San Francisco’s Housing Shortage Threatens African Americans”, Seattle Times, December 28, 2015, http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/san-franciscos-housing-shortage-threatens-african-americans; Thomas Fuller, “The Loneliness of  Being Black in San Francisco”, New York Times, July 20, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/black-exodus-from-san-francisco.html; Sam Roberts, “White Population Rises in Manhattan”, New York Times, July 4, 2010. https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/white-population-rises-in-manhattan/; Sam Roberts, “No Longer Majority Black, Harlem in in Transition”, New York Times, January 5, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06harlem.html; Tyrone Beason, “Seattle’s Vanishing Black Community”, Seattle Times, Pacific NW Magazine, May 26, 2016, https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/seattles-vanishing-black-community/; Gene Balk, “Historically Black Central District Could Be Less Than 10% Black In a Decade”, Seattle Times, May 25, 2015,  https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/historically-black-central-district-could-be-less-than-10-black-in-a-decade/; Andrew Theen, “Portland Area Attracting New and Diverse Residents as Black Population Dwindles”, Oregonian, March 8, 2017, http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/03/post_585.html; See also Balk, “As Seattle Gets Richer, the City’s Black Households Get Poorer”. It is not surprising that this action began with players from San Francisco and California.
[vi] The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 gave effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Art. 4, Sect. 2, Clause 3, superseded by the 13^th Amendment which outlawed slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was a result of the Missouri Compromise of 1850. The US Supreme Court upheld the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 in Alberman v. Booth (1859) 62 US 506, and ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional regarding its ability to limit slavery in any state or territory in Scott v Sandford (Dred Scott decision). This disgusting clause demonstrates Black presence and importance to this country and its economy. It’s a reminder that from the beginning of this country’s founding Blacks were here and a part of society. Indeed, we have always been so important to this nation’s growth that Blacks are repeatedly mentioned in the most reverent founding documents. No matter how sad or hurtful the history is, never fear it because it means we were HERE! American Blacks have been fighting for centuries to be remembered as part of the American story. If we forget, they will erase us.
[vii] Remember the terrible and tragic story of Trevone Martin? Whites and so-called whites (today) driving around with a loaded gun in their cars while looking for Blacks to maim and kill and getting away with it under the law? This was required by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 within every state of the union.
[viii] Mr. Douglass notes how Americans are so quick to denounce the foreign slave trade while fully participating in and making money from the internal slave trade.
[ix] San Francisco has erased its Black population using police brutality as a major means of terrorizing Blacks out of the city without getting their hands dirty in combination with outrageous rents and housing costs. Currently San Francisco’s Black population is down to only 5.4% of the population, which is far below the national average of 13%, the California average of 6.5%, the Los Angele City average of 9%, and Inglewood’s average of 42%. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/inglewoodcitycalifornia,losangelescitycalifornia,sanfranciscocitycalifornia,US/RHI225216#viewtop. San Francisco’s Black population dwindled from 7.8% of the population in 2000 to 6.1% of the population in 2010. US Census Bureau, “US Census, SF CA Population”, Census Viewer, last accessed September 28, 2017, http://censusviewer.com/city/CA/San%20Francisco. Dolan, “San Francisco’s Black Population Dwindling”; Nittle, “Will San Francisco’s Black Population Vanish as City’s Wealth Rises?”; Har, “San Francisco’s Housing Shortage Threatens African Americans”; Fuller, “The Loneliness of Being Black in San Francisco”, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/black-exodus-from-san-francisco.html; Steven Rosenfeld, “Is Gentrification Fueling Police Brutality in San Francisco?”, Alternet, May 15, 2015, http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/gentrification-fueling-police-brutality-san-francisco. New York’s stop and frisk policy was blatantly used to remove the Black populations from Harlem, Brooklyn and now the Bronx. Beginning at least 15 years ago, NYPD terrorized mostly Blacks (54-57%), where the black population was continuously decreasing. “Stop and Frisk Data”, New York Civil Liberties Union, https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data; Roberts, “White Population Rises in Manhattan”; Roberts, “No Longer Majority Black, Harlem in in Transition”. The Bronx is under siege right now by NYPD as the rest of NYC and boroughs become full of these new urbanites. (See “Copwatchers” documentary.) LAPD is deep in it now. It makes it easy to act like nothing is happening and blame others, while nothing changes and, in fact, may get worse for Blacks. See Kerri Anne Renzulli, “10 Most Expensive Cities To Be A Renter”, Time.com, April 8, 2016, http://time.com/money/4287132/most-expensive-cities-to-rent; Dan Burrows, “Most Expensive Cities in the United States to Live 2017”, Kiplinger.com, May 2017, http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/real-estate/T006-S001-most-expensive-u-s-cities-to-live-in-2017/index.html ; Jed Kolko, “Top 10 Least and Most Expensive Housing Markets for Today’s Middle Class”, Forbes online, May 14, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/trulia/2014/05/14/top-10-least-and-most-expensive-housing-markets-for-todays-middle-class/#5221ee3f63f6.
[x] My blog website is www.essays790.wordpress.com, “Essays on Modern Jim Crow and Black Relocation From the Urban Cores; Inglewood, CA is Great With Blacks”.
[xi] A great documentary is “For Love of Liberty.” It chronicles Black American military service beginning in colonial times through the present and displays their incredible heroism, contributions and patriotism, time and time again, in the face of truly disgusting and horrific repeated prejudice and betrayal by both the American government and people. Another great movie on the amazing contributions Black American soldiers made to this country is “The Negro Soldier” from 1944. These documentaries provide a good background to the wars and current events mentioned in Mr. Douglass’ and others’ writings.
[xii] Douglass, Whitfield, Wagoner, Rev. Freeman, Vashon, “Claims of our Common Cause: Address of the Colored Convention held in Rochester, July 6-8, 1853, to the People of the United States”.
[xiii] Douglass, Whitfield, Wagoner, Rev. Freeman, Vashon; “Claims of our Common Cause: …”
[xiv] See Malcolm Jenkins, Eagles safety, tweet in Knoblach, “NFL Owners…”