Dr. King would be troubled by the St. Louis of 2004. The high levels of economic injustice and low levels of political power would incite Dr. King to act. We insult his legacy by just singing about a dream or marching. Dr. King fought real struggles for real people - those who were most oppressed and disenfranchised. Dr. King honored the legacies of Dred Scott and many others who fought the good fight by continuing the movement for a peaceful and just world. In 2004, celebrations of St. Louis’ past are being planned. If Dr. King were here, he would definitely target those celebrations to raise the obvious hypocrisies.
He would express his outrage to the school board for their annihilation of a school district. He’d take issue with the decisions (or lack thereof) by the Board of Alderpersons and he would definitely be calling the Mayor out. He would be sickened by the warmongers. But mainly, I think he would be disappointed at the freedom lovers and justice seekers who find excuses for standing idly on the sidelines as injustices swirl around them. These folks act like 3/5 of a person instead of a whole one. On this King Holiday, let us vow to keep the likes of Justice Taney from turning back the clock of progress, by acting like empowered and caring people.
Black Like Coal
April, 2010
There have been a few books that detail the courageous but violent struggles of black coal miners in this country, like Black Coal Miners in America by Ronald L. Lewis and Coal, Class and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia by Joe William Trotter Jr. What I know about the life, culture and history of coal miners comes from my dear friend, Jane English. Her father started mining in West Virginia at the ripe age of nine years, along with his brother who was 11 years old. Jane was a union organizer at some point for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which synthesized her personal knowledge of the mines with the history of the union. These history books chronicle the 250 years of blacks in the coal mining industry and their struggles with the mining bosses, scabs and sometimes even white union members. Before the union, coal companies used slaves and, like the cotton barons, were able to accelerate their profits on the backs of blacks and poor whites. Most times, white and black union brothers were in lock step against the vicious anti-union tactics of the companies. Some of these were actually armed confrontations, such as the strikes at the turn of the 20th century of 11,000 Alabama miners, 75 percent of whom were black. The strikes were led by black union leaders J. F. Sorsby, William Prentice and George H. Edmunds. The brothers carried out some bold tactics, including blowing up a Southern railcar carrying scab coal, before the effort was crushed by the National Guard.
The biggest armed confrontation in U.S. labor history is embedded in the coal mining wars of 1921. One hot summer August day, 8,000 armed black and white miners marched on Logan County and entered into a deadly exchange with the company-paid sheriff and his thugs. The miners were kicking butt until President Warren Harding sent in soldiers to quash the efforts that would have established a union in Logan Country.
From Jane, I learned one origin of the term, “redneck.” During the strikes, union miners distinguished themselves from the scabs by wearing red handkerchiefs around their necks. She told me that the United Mine Workers were known to pay the poll taxes of black workers so they could vote. UMWA was the first union to include opposition to racial discrimination in its founding documents. Women are the keepers of the stories about mining life and in mining towns, where coal is the only game in town; this is an important role for families who are multi-generational miners. Jane’s father gave 55 years of his life to the coal mines. “He started like most blacks did after slavery - you get yourself a pick, shovel and a wheelbarrow or a wagon, then you find a coal mine. After you filled up your wheelbarrow, you took it to the weigh master to get paid.”
The process was a step up from slavery where the slaves had to bring in four or five tons a day. If they made their quota, the slaves got to eat that day; if they didn’t, they got lashes across the back. The transaction closely resembled sharecropping because the company was always the winner. At the weigh station, the master would check each hunk of coal. If there was too much rock on the coal (and of course, the master determined what was too much), he would reject it by throwing it on the ground. I think you know what happened to the rejected coal that miners couldn’t reclaim.
Illiteracy of the miners worked in favor of the plantation and mining bosses, but even if you knew you were being exploited, there wasn’t much you could do about it. Unionizing mines were major victories for coal miners, especially black miners, who basically refused to work in non-union mines, given our history of hiring, firing and getting the worst jobs.
The overall numbers of miners dropped dramatically with the mechanization of mining and the use of oil. The recent mining incident in West Virginia was the deadliest in the last 25 years. It cannot be called an accident, given the horrendous working conditions reportedly known to Massey Coal but ignored. Of the 29 dead miners, it appeared that at least one was African American. It may be an indicator that the rich history of solidarity between black and white coal miners (“we’re all black underground”) may be a fading phenomenon. Most of us have come to believe that miners are white It’s a good thing we have the books to remind us of the relationships - and for women like Jane to keep the oral histories alive.
CHAPTER FOUR
Culture: The Fight for the Hearts and Minds of People
The stark difference between The (Infrared) Rockers and other St.
Louis reggae bands during the reggae heyday: For The Rockers, it
was always more than just the music. The core members were
committed to the celebration and preservation of black history and
culture. They were deeply involved in community issue, carrying
out the true role of artists as change agents. Much of their original
music uplifted the struggles of African peoples throughout the
world. The group formally disbanded in 2009 after the death of
Johari Kamili, its lead singer and main songwriter.
Chase Dem Crazy Baldheads Out of the Yard
April, 1994
A couple issues ago, I wrote about the exploitation of reggae music and the disrespect of the Infrared Rockers in particular. I relayed the situation around the last Reggie Fest at Mississippi Nights given by Professor Skank, a local white promoter. I exposed the attempts of the culture vultures to control the reggae scene, as well as the economic assassination of reggae groups who don’t kowtow to their agenda. Last week, the St. Louis American published a letter of attack on me in the “Letters to the Editor” section.
The letter was written by Robert Schoenfeld, who is associated with the Nighthawk record label that allegedly promotes various Jamaican reggae artists. Apparently, the column on reggae exploitation stepped on his toes. The letter has indeed sent a ripple of outrage throughout the reggae community. Schoenfeld told how “ignorant,” “unbalanced” and “outright unstable” I am and proceeded to call me a hypocrite and a parasite with a “sick agenda.” After enduring all the name-calling, I was sure that the letter would move to correct any facts I had misstated. Or perhaps clarify some misinformation that I had put forward. None of that! Schoenfeld had ample opportunity to make me eat my words, but came up woefully empty-handed - and sounding empty- headed.
Schoenfeld’s letter sparked a real education for me on the politics of reggae music. Many people called or wrote to give me information about