whitesinhistory

[whitesinhistory]

On June 24, 1943, white American military policemen (MPs) opened fire on Black soldiers stationed during World War II in the village of Bamber Bridge, England, killing a Black serviceman named Private William Crossland.

That night, two patrolling white MPs were angered that a group of African American soldiers, members of the all-Black 1511th Quartermaster Truck regiment, were socializing with white British soldiers and civilians at a local pub. During the war, many American military officials sought to impose on allied communities overseas the same racial segregation mandates—including separate eating and drinking establishments—that existed in the U.S. It became a source of frustration that some municipalities, like Bamber Bridge, refused to comply and instead welcomed the Black U.S. troops stationed there.

The MPs attempted to break up the gathering and arrest one of the Black soldiers, Private Eugene Nunn, claiming he was out of uniform and without a valid pass. When patrons of the pub objected to the treatment of Private Nunn, a fist fight broke out, and the MPs left to find reinforcements.

Outside the inn, the MPs grappled once more with a group of Black soldiers. Drawing their pistols, they opened fire into the group, wounding several Black GIs, who retreated to their camp.

As word of the confrontation spread, a larger group of armed white MPs drove several jeeps, including one with a machine gun mounted on top, to the Black soldiers’ camp. Fearful that the firing would resume, Black GIs grabbed arms. Gunfire was exchanged throughout the night, during which a white MP fatally shot Private William Crossland in the back. Several other Black and white soldiers were wounded.

Though a U.S. general concluded that nearly all of the blame for the escalating conflict rested with the white MPs, the response of the military court did not reflect this. No MPs were ever prosecuted, while 28 Black soldiers were court-martialed, convicted of participating in a “mutiny,” and sentenced to months of hard labor.

[whitesinhistory]

Abbott vetoes summer food aid program, forgoing $450M in federal fund

Texas is one of a dozen states that doesn't participate in the Summer EBT program that gives low-income children meals when school is out.

[whitesinhistory]

stop being silly in front of me

[whitesinhistory]

How do active military and veterans feel about tech bros being sworn in to the US Army as Lieutenant Colonels?

These tech bros are going to help Palantir and Meta surveil US citizens and use the military to monitor/intimate domestic critics.

Republican voters better wake up.

[whitesinhistory]

On June 23, 1903, a white mob of more than 4,000 people in Wilmington, Delaware, burned a Black man named George White to death before he could stand trial. Mr. White was arrested and accused of killing a young white woman. He adamantly denied any involvement in the crime but was denied the opportunity to defend himself in court. During the era of racial terror, many Black people were lynched after being accused of murder. The mere suggestion of Black-on-white violence could provoke mob violence and lynching. Here, despite Mr. White’s insistence that he was innocent, Wilmington residents were determined to lynch him without delay.  Within one week of Mr. White’s arrest, two lynch mobs attempted to abduct him from the workhouse where he was being held. White Wilmington residents talked openly about these lynching plans. In a sermon on June 21, local white pastor Robert Elwood urged white residents to exact swift public vengeance by lynching Mr. White. A lynch mob began forming the next day, and its members spent the next two days meticulously planning the public spectacle lynching that took place on June 23. Despite this public planning, in which mob members even shared their plans in advance with police officers, authorities charged with protecting Mr. White did not relocate him to a different jail or take any other measures to prevent the lynching. In the early morning hours of June 23, the lynch mob had grown to thousands and included people who had traveled from out of town to participate. The mob stormed the workhouse where Mr. White was being held and threatened to destroy every cell unless authorities turned him over. Officers ultimately chose to protect the property of the jail rather than the life of a man they had a legal duty to protect; after leading the mob to his cell, the officers turned Mr. White over and “stood by to await the inevitable.”  The mob removed Mr. White from the jail and led him, chained, through a crowd of thousands to the pyre built outside the jail, where he was bound with rope and forced into the open flames. As Mr. White burned to death, the crowd of white men, women, and children there to participate in the lynching threw rocks at him and cheered.  After Mr. White was dead, members of the mob continued to shoot at his charred body, and lynching participants took pieces of his remains as “souvenirs”; a local white physician reportedly took Mr. White’s skull and right foot to display in the window of a local saloon. Though thousands of known residents were complicit in the lynching of George White, no one was ever held responsible. Mr. White is one of over 6,500 victims of racial terror lynching killed in the U.S., and more than 300 victims killed outside the states of the former Confederacy, between 1865 and 1950.  In 2019, the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition gathered with hundreds of community members to unveil a historical marker memorializing Mr. White. 

[whitesinhistory]

Trump’s Ultimate Power Trip? | The Coffee Klatch https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-ultimate-power-trip-the-coffee

[whitesinhistory]

The Trump-Republican budget bill is incredibly unpopular amongst voters — and for good reason. The problem is that many people don't know what's in it. Help inform them by sharing this post. And a reminder: The Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121. Let your representative know how you feel about it.

[whitesinhistory]

[whitesinhistory]

[whitesinhistory]

NAACP National Convention

[whitesinhistory]

On June 22, 1908, a white mob lynched nine Black men in Sabine County, Texas, within a 24-hour period. The reign of racial terror began when a white farmer was shot to death in his home by an unknown assailant on the evening of June 21. 

The deep racial hostility permeating Southern society often served to focus suspicion on Black communities after a crime was discovered, whether or not there was evidence to support the suspicion, and accusations lodged against Black people were rarely subject to serious scrutiny.

In this instance, six Black men—Jerry Evans, William Johnson, William Manuel, Moses Spellman, Cleveland Williams, and Frank Williams—were already in jail, accused of being involved in a completely unrelated shooting of another local white man. Early on the morning of June 22, a mob of about 200 white men broke into the jail and seized them from police custody. Five of the men were hanged from a tree outside of the jail, and Mr. Williams, the sixth, was shot in the back as he tried to escape. 

Later that night, marauding white men shot and killed a Black man named Bill McCoy near the white farmer's home and shot and killed two unidentified Black men and threw their bodies into a creek. A Black church and school house in the town were also burned to the ground.

Many Black people were lynched across the South under accusation of murder. During this era of racial terror, mere suggestions of Black-on-white violence could provoke mob violence and lynching before the judicial system could or would act. White lynch mobs regularly displayed complete disregard for the legal system, abducting Black people from courts, jails, and out of police custody. Law enforcement officials, charged with protecting those in their custody, often failed to intervene, as was the case here, and sometimes even participated in mob violence. 

Racial terror sought to maintain white supremacy and dominance by instilling fear in the entire Black community through brutal violence that was often unpredictable and arbitrary. It was common during this era for a lynch mob’s focus to expand beyond a specific person accused of an offense and to target any and all Black people. In a system where lynchings regularly went unpunished and law enforcement did little to protect Black communities, white mobs acted as judge, jury, and executioner, killing Black women, men, and children with no expectation of punishment. 

The Black people killed on June 22, 1908, were nine of at least 644 documented lynching victims between 1865 and 1950 in the state of Texas. To learn more about the history of racial terror lynching, read EJI’s report, Lynching in America. 

[whitesinhistory]

Remember: Almost all of us are the descendants of immigrants who fled persecution, or were brought to America under duress, or sought better lives for themselves and their descendants. Politicians who stoke fear and hatred over immigration want you to forget this. Do not.

[whitesinhistory]

The Most Dangerous Corporation in America https://robertreich.substack.com/p/palantir-the-worst-of-the-corporate

[whitesinhistory]

If you're a NYC voter, I urge you to rank @zohrankmamdani and @brad.lander at the top of your ballot for mayor. Now is the time for Democrats to build on what the Democratic Party used to do before it tried to move to the “center.” Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Strengthen safety nets. Take on corporate greed. Make the super-rich pay their fair share. Fight for unions. And shepherd an economy where profits are shared with the workers who make them possible. Because there is no center between a government of oligarchs — and a government of the people.

[whitesinhistory]

For Trump, a military conflict with Iran would distract from: -Sinking poll numbers -A devastating (and unpopular) budget bill -Harmful trade wars -Unleashing the military on American soil -Millions of people protesting his authoritarianism We must remain on high alert. [Cartoon by @adamzyglis]

[whitesinhistory]

CATO: "New nonpublic data from ICE indicates the government is primarily detaining individuals with no criminal convictions of any kind...93% had no violent convictions... 65% no criminal record at all."

@MarshaBlackburn