I knew Jim Crow. I was born into its time, lived it, and reported on it. I saw monumental laws attack it and seek to kill it. But Jim Crow still lives, if under an alias because the original name has rightly become so repugnant.
Operation Hammer National Security Hardware was used to still the Election. Mr. Montgomery the developer of it was put gag his knowing on how it was changed to spy, and blackmail Americans. The evidence was given to every Member Of Congress right before the vote of Certification Of The Election. I am very disappointed that Dan Rather sided with any party. Journalism is dead with Mr. Rather. Mr. Rather has lost my Respect, & hope for a leadership in the Media. CoverUp Is What Dan Rather. What about the Collier Brothers and Vote Scam? What of People I know that witnessed vote fraud with Bernie Sanders camp in Nevada. Old Empire network is what Dan Rather is.
Thank you Dan. Your thoughtful writing is a balm for the insanity of our time. Even with Biden’s steady (ha ha) hand, the echos of the former president remain strong. I have made a commitment to myself to spend time every day reading “good stuff” (not Twitter etc). Steady is my go-to and I’m never disappointed - and often challenged and enlightened. (Also - I’m from Texas but living in Ohio ... when I read you, i heard your voice and the sweet, subtle accent of my birthplace)
Ganga Dan still thinks it is the mid 20th century. If there is Jim Crow, it is being perpetuated by the insidious Leftist who insist on identity politics and the metric of human value. Their every utterance is racist; their every written screed is racist. It is the Progressives who continue to perpetuate the racism they inherited from the 20th century Democrat party.
I believe what you are saying has no racist connotation against Whites or anyone else.
Whether you are White, Black, or Brown, “voter suppression” is the most dangerous survivor of Jim Crow laws. Economics and education are both close seconds, in no particular order, to this most egregious part of history.
I am from Louisiana and SanFrancisco. I lived Jim Crow in Louisiana; It is a post Civil War law, built on segregation and inequality, let alone the big “R”, Racism.
Now here we are in 2021 with African Americans being subject to voter suppression agai. During this “sheltering in place I had lots of time and I started writing stories about growing up with my “white only”, “colored only” Jim. Crow signs as a tween and as a teen, and how I dealt with it. After 12 I lived in San Francisco where I now realize San Francisco practiced covert “Jim Crow/ism.
Thank you for lending your brilliance to combatting “voter suppression here and now.
Most Respectful, OC.
p.s. I was low low after John Lewis passed in July. Today I have a similar feeling for the lost of Vernon Jordon yesterday. ☮️
It saddens me that Georgia, my state, is one of these scrambling to restrict my voting rights, and those of my black and brown brothers and sisters. I feel powerless. I have written all of my congressional representatives this year. I used to get a letter back. Marjorie Taylor Greene subscribed me to her newsletter. That's NOT a personal reply, and I had checked the box for a reply from her. The other two people who supposedly represent me to the Georgia Capitol didn't bother to answer either letter. I have written these people at least five times on different issues. I was polite and respectful, as I always am when addressing my government. I feel as if I am standing in an echo chamber trying to make Congress hear me. For the first time in my 62 years, I am being ignored. My Black friends would probably tell me, "Now you know what it feels like, huh?" Yep, and it feels awful!!
What Republicans are trying to do by suppressing voters even more than they have is outrageous and thry must be stopped. We need to get serious about this issue. We must insist that Congress make laws not allowing States to stop people from voting. Republicans are just despicable!
I fully appreciate your words. It is unfortunate that so many seem to ignore your intent. The attempts by the Republicans to suppress the vote are extremely troubling and must be brought to light as you are doing.
Thank you. After watching J.C. ramp up then descend, and worst of all now rise again, do you have ideas how to stop it? I am asking for myself, what can I do?
I, too, lived in the era of Jim Crow laws that separated people of color and poor people from the rich whites. Even the churches practiced exclusion except the few like Roman Catholics who relegated people of color to the back pews. They were delegated to a fenced in section of cities and towns, some states like Kansas and Oregon did not allow them to live there. Then, when compassionate people tried to improve the lives and laws of the unfortunate individuals, they were treated with scurrilous and acrimonius accusations. When these attempts were unsuccessful in silencing them, they were murdered: countless individuals including both blacks and whites from young college students to the well-known such as Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and others. Now the descendants of those blighted, bloated racists have raised their ugly hate-filled heads and are not only murdering individuals, but are attacking and attempting to murder our very government.
I think the most powerful part of your piece was the brief lines about Medgar Evers. You sketched out a family who had a father violently murdered in front of them, due to white supremacy. Terror & trauma. A good man, probably doing notable work if you met him as a journalist and admired him -- just snuffed out.
That was 1963? But isn't the exact same thing happening now, almost 60 years later? Isn't that violence and terror still constant? Isn't that the entire point of Black Lives Matter?
Maybe I don't understand (I'm white, 39, etc). But while I agree with you about the awful laws, I think highlighting the humanity and fear of Medgar Evers and his family, and comparing it to families today, is very important. Too many people can rationalize it now (due to "crimes" or "suspiciousness" or whichever. Too many people also think of Jim Crow as water fountains and lunch counters, not being dragged out of your house and killed in your yard.
For all of us educated in the 80s and 90s, who learned about civil rights in the past tense, please be more clear.
I teach U.S. history (from colonies to pre-WWI) to 8th graders. There isn't time to get all the way through the curriculum, but I make it a hard rule that we get at least to Reconstruction/ post Reconstruction by the last two months of school. I am one of those teachers Trump wanted to silence.
It is vitally important that we teach this period of history in schools. Yet in the public school system, history has been steadily, year by year, sacrificed on the altar of math and science (and to some degree English). It is my firm belief that, if history were not discounted as useless to the economic well-being of our country, and if we made it a moral imperative that students be exposed to how we got where we are today, we would be in a different place right now as a nation. We need to start pushing the importance of history in public schools.
I know Him Crow, Jim Crow was an enemy of mine. We must fight back against any attempt to being those ideas back.
I didn't assume We referred to white people but We Americans!
Operation Hammer National Security Hardware was used to still the Election. Mr. Montgomery the developer of it was put gag his knowing on how it was changed to spy, and blackmail Americans. The evidence was given to every Member Of Congress right before the vote of Certification Of The Election. I am very disappointed that Dan Rather sided with any party. Journalism is dead with Mr. Rather. Mr. Rather has lost my Respect, & hope for a leadership in the Media. CoverUp Is What Dan Rather. What about the Collier Brothers and Vote Scam? What of People I know that witnessed vote fraud with Bernie Sanders camp in Nevada. Old Empire network is what Dan Rather is.
Thank you Dan. Your thoughtful writing is a balm for the insanity of our time. Even with Biden’s steady (ha ha) hand, the echos of the former president remain strong. I have made a commitment to myself to spend time every day reading “good stuff” (not Twitter etc). Steady is my go-to and I’m never disappointed - and often challenged and enlightened. (Also - I’m from Texas but living in Ohio ... when I read you, i heard your voice and the sweet, subtle accent of my birthplace)
Haha...Ageism is also a problem. Will you continue to be a part of it? When you are old, remember this...
Ganga Dan still thinks it is the mid 20th century. If there is Jim Crow, it is being perpetuated by the insidious Leftist who insist on identity politics and the metric of human value. Their every utterance is racist; their every written screed is racist. It is the Progressives who continue to perpetuate the racism they inherited from the 20th century Democrat party.
Dear Dan Rather,
I believe what you are saying has no racist connotation against Whites or anyone else.
Whether you are White, Black, or Brown, “voter suppression” is the most dangerous survivor of Jim Crow laws. Economics and education are both close seconds, in no particular order, to this most egregious part of history.
I am from Louisiana and SanFrancisco. I lived Jim Crow in Louisiana; It is a post Civil War law, built on segregation and inequality, let alone the big “R”, Racism.
Now here we are in 2021 with African Americans being subject to voter suppression agai. During this “sheltering in place I had lots of time and I started writing stories about growing up with my “white only”, “colored only” Jim. Crow signs as a tween and as a teen, and how I dealt with it. After 12 I lived in San Francisco where I now realize San Francisco practiced covert “Jim Crow/ism.
Thank you for lending your brilliance to combatting “voter suppression here and now.
Most Respectful, OC.
p.s. I was low low after John Lewis passed in July. Today I have a similar feeling for the lost of Vernon Jordon yesterday. ☮️
I hope that you are correct..I hope there is a backlash against this offensive attempt at tyranny
It saddens me that Georgia, my state, is one of these scrambling to restrict my voting rights, and those of my black and brown brothers and sisters. I feel powerless. I have written all of my congressional representatives this year. I used to get a letter back. Marjorie Taylor Greene subscribed me to her newsletter. That's NOT a personal reply, and I had checked the box for a reply from her. The other two people who supposedly represent me to the Georgia Capitol didn't bother to answer either letter. I have written these people at least five times on different issues. I was polite and respectful, as I always am when addressing my government. I feel as if I am standing in an echo chamber trying to make Congress hear me. For the first time in my 62 years, I am being ignored. My Black friends would probably tell me, "Now you know what it feels like, huh?" Yep, and it feels awful!!
What Republicans are trying to do by suppressing voters even more than they have is outrageous and thry must be stopped. We need to get serious about this issue. We must insist that Congress make laws not allowing States to stop people from voting. Republicans are just despicable!
I fully appreciate your words. It is unfortunate that so many seem to ignore your intent. The attempts by the Republicans to suppress the vote are extremely troubling and must be brought to light as you are doing.
Thank you. After watching J.C. ramp up then descend, and worst of all now rise again, do you have ideas how to stop it? I am asking for myself, what can I do?
I, too, lived in the era of Jim Crow laws that separated people of color and poor people from the rich whites. Even the churches practiced exclusion except the few like Roman Catholics who relegated people of color to the back pews. They were delegated to a fenced in section of cities and towns, some states like Kansas and Oregon did not allow them to live there. Then, when compassionate people tried to improve the lives and laws of the unfortunate individuals, they were treated with scurrilous and acrimonius accusations. When these attempts were unsuccessful in silencing them, they were murdered: countless individuals including both blacks and whites from young college students to the well-known such as Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and others. Now the descendants of those blighted, bloated racists have raised their ugly hate-filled heads and are not only murdering individuals, but are attacking and attempting to murder our very government.
Thank you for the reminder that we live on a perilous edge and decades of work could be lost in a flash.
I think the most powerful part of your piece was the brief lines about Medgar Evers. You sketched out a family who had a father violently murdered in front of them, due to white supremacy. Terror & trauma. A good man, probably doing notable work if you met him as a journalist and admired him -- just snuffed out.
That was 1963? But isn't the exact same thing happening now, almost 60 years later? Isn't that violence and terror still constant? Isn't that the entire point of Black Lives Matter?
Maybe I don't understand (I'm white, 39, etc). But while I agree with you about the awful laws, I think highlighting the humanity and fear of Medgar Evers and his family, and comparing it to families today, is very important. Too many people can rationalize it now (due to "crimes" or "suspiciousness" or whichever. Too many people also think of Jim Crow as water fountains and lunch counters, not being dragged out of your house and killed in your yard.
For all of us educated in the 80s and 90s, who learned about civil rights in the past tense, please be more clear.
Dan, satisfactory exposure of Jim Crow.
I teach U.S. history (from colonies to pre-WWI) to 8th graders. There isn't time to get all the way through the curriculum, but I make it a hard rule that we get at least to Reconstruction/ post Reconstruction by the last two months of school. I am one of those teachers Trump wanted to silence.
It is vitally important that we teach this period of history in schools. Yet in the public school system, history has been steadily, year by year, sacrificed on the altar of math and science (and to some degree English). It is my firm belief that, if history were not discounted as useless to the economic well-being of our country, and if we made it a moral imperative that students be exposed to how we got where we are today, we would be in a different place right now as a nation. We need to start pushing the importance of history in public schools.