Everett Jenkins Birthday Blog

Today is the last day of February 2022 ... the last day of Black History Month for the year 2022.  I returned home from a trip to Las Vegas on Saturday, February 26, and spent some time in the early hours of Sunday, February 27, watching my last February 2022 Must See TV selection, "The Murder of Emmett Till".  Watching the program brought back feelings of outrage, disgust, and sadness. Seeing the battered remains of the fourteen year old Emmett Till sickened me.  Learning about the acquittal of the two individuals accused of the crime disgusted me.  Learning about the subsequent tell all confessions given by the two individuals to a publication for $4000 outraged me.  And hearing that President Eisenhower and the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover did nothing after the confessions to hold others accountable saddened me. It is Black History Month in America and, in this shortest of months, some deference is given to highlighting Black History.  I do not know what is bei...

One of the great movie experiences for me in 2021 was on July 26 at the Varsity Theater in Davis, California. On that day, I had the pleasure to go back in time and experience the "Summer of Soul"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Soul What made it such a pleasant experience was not just the music, but also the notion that the six week festival was staged in Harlem, that it was staged with the assistance of the Black Panther Party, and that it was staged without any apparent disturbance or controversy. Nevertheless, it is the music that reverberates throughout time, and it was this tune which brought smiles and fond memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMSZKIpWMk Seeing the Bay Area's own Edwin Hawkins Singers was a blast from the past but, as this review indicates https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/summer-of-soul-gives-forgotten-music-fest-recognition-it-deserves/ it was the pairing of Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples on the a rousing rendition of Prec...

The Ballantine edition of  Your Blues Ain't Like Mine  contains a "A Conversation with Bebe Moore Campbell".  The following are some pertinent excerpts from the conversation: "Janine Yvette Gardner: The tragic fate of Armstrong Todd reads identical to that of Emmett Till.  Was that moment in America's history the influence for this novel? If so, why?" "Bebe Moore Campbell: Absolutely.  It was an event that haunted me.  I was five when it happened.  It was a historical event that was close to my own time.  It haunted the entire black community.  It was really one of the first publicized lynchings.  Usually lynchings were clandestine affairs, very secretive.  No one ever came forward.  Here you had the killers after the trial confess to the murders.  The fact that the boy was so young and the courage of his mother in making sure this wasn't some anonymous crime that no one ever heard about made it unique in black history....

As advertised below, PBS aired an episode of the American Experience entitled "The American Diplomat" last night that highlighted the careers of three trailblazing African American diplomats: Edward Dudley, Carl Rowan and Terence Todman.  I encourage everyone that has access to PBS Passport to watch the program and reflect on the incredible barriers that these three men overcame to become ambassadors. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/ As for me, after watching the program, I wondered whether much had changed in the State Department.  Sadly, what I found was that not much has changed. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/state-department-racism-diversity.html Given this lack of progress on racial diversity in the State Department, and given the state of race relations and political divisiveness in the United States today, I wonder how does an African American serve as an ambassador and what is the message that we attempt to advance throughout the world? Peace,...

This is Valentine's Day Weekend and for your consideration I offer this sole selection https://www.wbgo.org/music/2020-04-02/hear-lizz-wright-luxuriate-in-the-nearness-of-you-from-ella-100-live-at-the-apollo Happy Valentine's Day Weekend, everyone! Peace,  Everett Jenkins Fairfield, California February 11, 2022

On Monday, February 7, 2022, the PBS Newshour had a segment on the town of Nicodemus, Kansas https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-kansas-town-became-one-of-the-nations-first-majority-black-farming-communities The purpose of the segment was to highlight how the black farming community of Nicodemus has seen an erosion of black ownership of the farms.  From being almost all black owned farms, today only 10 percent of the farmland is owned by black farmers. The PBS Newshour segment was not news for those of us who have followed the demise of black farms... and black towns.  However, for me, what was particularly haunting was memories of Nicodemus as being the home of the Buffalo Soldiers https://www.kmuw.org/2021-09-23/nicodemus-celebrates-heritage-with-143rd-homecoming During this Black History Month, it is perhaps appropriate to remember the great contribution of the Buffalo Soldiers to American history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier and to be thankful to the p...

In January, I visited Bruce's Beach for the first time.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce%27s_Beach Bruce's Beach is now an oddly beautiful oasis in the midst of over developed Manhattan Beach.  Frankly, it would be a shame to develop it now, but it is also a shame that for almost a century the Bruce family was deprived of the economic benefit associated with owning the land.  It will be interesting to see how this all turns out. As for my connection to the Bruce family of Bruce's Beach fame, I am not certain of any direct connection.  What I do know is that there was a Bruce Family Reunion at the Hyatt Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, from July 3 to 5, 1987.   This 1987 Reunion was the Third Annual Family Reunion and it was "Dedicated to Elizah and Lizzie Cruz Bruce and Their Descendants". According to the program, "Elizah Bruce was born in 1832 in Tennessee.  Lizzie Cruz Bruce was born in 1834 in Tennessee.  They migrated from Tennessee b...

It is now February, a month ascribed as "Black History"  month.  For those who actually are interested in Black History, there are some programs that I find of interest and invite you to join me in watching. First, on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 9:00 pm, American Experience will air a program entitled "The American Diplomat."  In highlighting this program, the PBS programming guide i receive states: "Examine the experience of African American diplomats serving during the Cold War.  At the height of the civil rights movement, these individuals represented the best of American ideals abroad while facing discrimination at home.  Discover how -- in the face of intolerance -- three African American diplomats pushed past these historical and institutional racial barriers and reached high-ranking appointments in the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations, changing the face of American diplomacy." The following week, on Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10:...

While at Amherst College, I took several classes in the Spanish department.  I never completely learned to speak the language, but I did development a rudimentary reading ability. One of the works in Spanish that I recall reading was  La Vida Es Sueno  by Pedro Calderon de la Barca , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_a_Dream and, as I recall I read this work for the class of Professor James Maraniss. James Maraniss passed away last week https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/arts/music/james-maraniss-dead.html In reading his obituary, I was struck by the fact that he was the librettist for a Pulitizar Prize winning opera based on Calderon's masterpiece, an opera that appears to only have been staged once.   For the musical selection for this Friday, I leave you with the story behind the creation of the relatively unheard opera  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-lewis-spratlan-20100725-story.html and with the wonder of the notes that can be read bu...