In the spirit of the Democratic Convention, C-SPAN last night ran a series of past Democratic Conventions from Truman to Kerry. It was mostly a wonderful trip down memory lane.  One of my favorite moments traveling down the road was seeing Barbara Jordan as the keynote speaker. She was the first African American woman to keynote the Democratic Convention. In her speech she left specific challenges, instructions if you will,  for all citizens and public servants alike. She challenged citizens to hold public servants accountable and public servants to be accountable for their actions. She called this "national community." I barely remember her during the Watergate hearings but her voice during this crisis is forever locked in my memory.

My memory of the1988 Democratic Convention in Atlanta surrounds the pity pronounces of Ann Richards. She was (at the time) the State Treasurer of Texas. Even though she gave the keynote speech she was so funny. I loved her Texas twang. I remember two of her most famous lines: "Poor ol' George Bush (41), he can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." I liked her because she was folksy.  She reminded the audience of listening to FDR on the radio in her humble west Texas abode when she was growing up which for me confirmed her down-to-earthiness. The second Ann Richards line that made an indelible mark on me is "that dog won't hunt." She was gracious during her speech and paid tribute to her fellow Texan Barbara Jordan.

I miss you Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan!

I am still bemused as to what happen and what didn't happen when the levees broke in New Orleans.  I can't imagine another natural disaster while a Republican administration is in office. I thought I head it described that someone eating cake while New Orleans was drowning.

"America is in pickle" and some how Bill Moyers manages to find guest to share a sober look at what is going on the United States. His guest always come in a variety of political persuasions. This week he spoke with Andrew J. Bacevich a self-identified conservative who offered a solemn assessment of situations in Washington and its role of the country in the world. I listened in rapt silence.

He really didn't say anything that I don't already know but sometimes it is good hear someone else confirm it.

I am so excited because California is putting this measure before California voters this fall and I want to vote for it. I can't imagine being in Los Angeles within two-and-half hours by train.

I don't know all the details but I am sure the devil is in them. I do know that San Francisco's skyline is about to change as they build a new skyscraper to house the new Transbay terminal.

On this (past) 4th of July,  I listened intently to the reading of the <i>Voices of The People's History of the United States." It was great program because there were actors on stage reading specific passages from Howard Zinn's "The People History of the United States." It is full of stories one might not know or hear in the "official" history the United States.

"Voices" was held and 92nd Street Y in New York City.  It was wonderful to see the words in this book come out of several actors mouths and to life. I like this book because I remember something Howard Zinn wrote about that  has more meaning to me as I learn about my family's history in the United States. Specifically, Mr. Zinn recalls an incident involving U.S. Colored Troops in Zanesville, Ohio. He recounts how, even though they were fighting for the Union,  poorly the colored troops were treated by the citizens of Zanesville.  Mr. Zinn writes that this incident appeared in one of local newspapers of that era.

I never forgot that story because of the members of my family who fought in the War between the States. I will never forget it  because I believe the War forced my great great grandparents to leave Ohio with their daughter, her husband, their children and my great great great grandparent's two youngest sons for the relative safety of Michigan. After the civil unrest, they moved back to Ohio where they went to be with the family as they reached latter stages of life. The daughter her husband, their chidren and one the youngest sons stayed in Michigan.  The second of the two youngest sons moved to Pennsylvania and finally back to Ohio.

It's summer in Baghad by the bay. The fog is fickle and the heat is sometimes hot. You never know what to wear. The Sun usually comes out about noon and only stays for a few hours; and then the fog comes in, heavy like blanket to cover the hills. Given the right conditions, the fog floats just above the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 It's like having air conditioning without paying for it; it's natural and free. A few days during the summer--a San Francisco summer-- the "air conditioning" breaks down and the city by the bay seems like desert. Whew! I can't stand it when it gets too hot; when high pressure sits and spins just off the coast. It like the devil is blowing its' hot breath on San Francisco. The fog becomes a stranger. The sewers start to smell. The air is stagnant and refuses to remove the pollutants and foul smell that whiffs up from the openings on most street corners.

I can't wait 'til the fog comes back. I love San Francisco summers!

On 17 July, 2008 the QBR will hold the the 10th Annual Harlem Book Fair.  It is one my favorite events. I really like the discussion panels they have each year. This is year is going to be particularly interesting because Tom DeWolf  of the DeWolf's of Bristol, Rhode Island is participating on a discussion panel.

Who is Tom DeWolf? Tom DeWolf is the cousin of Katrina Brown who is responsible for Traces of the Trade. which appeared on P.O.V. 24 June, 2008. Mr. DeWolf was on C-SPAN 14 January, 2008 discussing the book, his cousin's film and various other topics surrounding his family's involvement in the trade. I enjoyed the discussion of his book in Rhode Island in January and look forward to seeing the discussion panel at the Harlem Book Fair.

The C-SPAN link is Tom DeWolf discussing his book 14 January, 2008.  It is one hour and fifteen minutes long. Use the flash (red ) button to start the video.

That was the price of gallon of gasoline in Monterey, California in March. Although that price was in the hinterlands of Monterey, California it was pricey.

A couple days ago I was driving up and down El Camino Real on the peninsula this Friday and that $5.41a gallon migrated to San Mateo County. San Mateo County is one county south of San Francisco. I expect it soon within the City and County of San Francisco.

Is it time that governments rearrange their budgets from the bias toward highway transportation to mass transport like light rail?

According to Akan language of Ghana, there is a term, Sankofa, which means we must go back to reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why
and how we came to be who we are today.
Let us take from the past what is needed to move forward as a nation
and as a country. The one great example of this the United States
Constitution. We use it--or try when Congress shows some back bone--to
this very day; but cherry picking the parts we like or agree with leaves us a poorer nation.  If we fail to understand or choose to ignore where we
have been how can we ever be sure that we have made any progress? We
might want to jump around a bit to the of the middle of the journey but
it is a precarious perch from which to begin. Sometimes the journey is perilous. It exposes us to a harsh but necesary truth. A truth that needs examination so that we may proceed with the process of becoming a more perfect union.

In this vein, Traces of the Trade
by Katrina Browne attempts to take us to one starting point. She choose
a very personal story. Her story is about her family's history. Her
family's history is a story is about the history of how America came into existence.
Through the use of genealogy she examines something painful and yet
revealing about her, her family and us. Her genealogy is very
fascinating and opens the door for conversation, a jumping off point
from which we can honestly discuss these issues without recriminations.
I appreciate her effort because she is earnestly trying to talk about
what is most painful--almost taboo-- in the United States.

Canada apologizes to its' Native population for removing the children from their homes.  As I listened to the apology on C-SPAN,  I wondered how an apology from the American government would sound to Native Americans?

Thank you Mr. Everett for reminding us about two brave women who fought to get us this far; and we still have some miles to travel.

Today was a B-A-T-T-L-E royle in the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee.
Harold Ickes, senior advisor with the Clinton campaign coughed up a
nasty fit during the closing remarks about Michigan's delegates.
Splitting the delegates close down the middle, I think was the fair

thing to do. Ickes threaten to take it Denver. Everett Ward a DNC
member from North Carolina told Mr. Ickes to stop the political
posturing and unite the party. Mr. Everett was channeling Fanny Lou
Hamer and Ella Jo Baker when he retorted:

Thank you C-SPAN for rebroadcasting the DNC meeting on 25 August 2007 in which the party set forth the rules which govern the current Democratic campaign. Thanks for letting us the voters see who said what and when they said it.

Did you send money to MoveOn.org? Did you sign an online petition to the Super-delegates? Bill Clinton is making a list and he is checking it twice to find out who was naughty and who wasn't nice to his spouse; he says she was pushed aside from the Democratic nomination by organizations like Move.On who floated an online petition to Super-delegates in this process. Is your name on this petition?

Seriously, I believe organizing online petitions like the one which supported him during his Impeachment is the highest form of democracy. We the people have the right to organize and petition our government where we see fit. The superdelegates are government officials right?

How dare the citizenry of the United States take their role seriously in our democracy.

 Casey Lartigue Jr. on TheRoot writes, "black people, better than most, should understand the importance of being able to choose who to love and who to marry."
Mr. Lartigue Jr. introduces " Clark Hamilton, a 20 year old sentenced three years in penitentiary for marrying a Florence Hammond, a white woman. He, according to Mr. Lartigue Jr., left Virginia for Maryland after serving 82 days in jail in which time his marriage was void and null. Cases like this one are the foundation from which the Loving case was built.

Certainly, the Loving and Hammond cases have a deeper and more profound origin. As I re-read Joshua Rothman's Notorious in the Neighborhood, I understand that depth and profundity. Rothman's book is a social, cultural and economical look at the illegality of those relationships,  kinships and common law marriages that straddle and fall across the color line. He bases his book on his study of records residing mostly at the University of Virginia, State Library of Virginia in Richmond and courthouse records in Charlottesville.  I had the opportunity see some of these records at all three places. It is astounding that so much history is so overlooked in this country in the name of racsim.

To understand Notorious in the Neighborhood, it only takes a glimpse at the hotly discussed extra legal relationship of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. He takes a look at this episode but does his very best not to past judgment on Jefferson. He instead looks at, places the affair in context of relationships that straddled the moral or race codes of the era. I think it seems that a fair number of chancery books, order books, wills, deeds and other legal documents confirm that "illicit" relationships, as Mr. Rothman calls them, were more common than previously acknowledged in American history. These relationship crossed social, economic, gender and "racial" lines alike.

Rothman delves deep into the extra legal relationship and or common law marriage of one Daniel Isaacs and Nancy West of Charlottesville. According to Mr. Rothman Daniel Isaacs was a Jewish immigrant from Germany. He came to these shores around 1790.  He was  successful business person in Albemarle and the surrounding counties; he even accounts with Thomas Jefferson according to Mr. Rothman. He also had a relationship with Nancy West, a person of color which by local and state standards was illegal. Nancy West was the daugther of a white man and free person of color. Nevertheless, Nancy and David carried on their relationship despite the Virginia statues which insisted that races stay away from co-mingling.

Nancy West and David Isaacs had to go to court to fight a suit brought on by local white merchants. According to Rothman, this case was brought about because of economic jealousies and was heard in Richmond. It was a rather convoluted case insofar as whether to charge them with an illegal common law marriage--they had children--or charge them with an having  "illicit relations" outside a marriage. One of the strangest aspects of Nancy and David's relationship is that they didn't and couldn't live together just because of the laws in Virginia.  I guess Virginia couldn't have both ways?

Furthermore, Mr. Lartigue Jr. quotes Earl Ofari Hutchinson

.. many blacks "seethe" at the
comparison. As the argument goes, interracial marriage should not be
compared to gay marriage because of the oppression blacks have suffered.
Hutchinson dismisses that as being "self-serving." It is also myopic, a
case of a former slave putting on his former master's clothing and
wanting others to be treated as slaves.