FROM DRED SCOTT TO MICHAEL BROWN: A LONG HISTORY OF LEGAL PRECEDENTS DOCUMENTING THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AGAINST RACISM IN AMERICA

Portrait of Dred Scott

SIFTING THROUGH THE BIG BAG OF CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES:

Bigdaddy Blues’ Response To The compelling article, “A Letter To The “Insta-Advocates” Of Civil Rights And Justice From A Black Same Gender Loving Man” Written by Bobby Smith.

Over the years I have attended so many protests and demonstrations here in this capital city and abroad, marching and standing vigil for truth, so I fully support your effort to spread the word among those who have already shown that they have a conscience and are open to positive change. I do recall many other organizations circulating their pamphlets and literature related to the overall causes of human civil rights, information I carefully tucked away to read later whilst focusing on the main cause, the cause that got me out of my bed that day. 

I wrote this article in direct response to a question posed by author Bobby Smith because it was such a powerful question.  After reading his article it resounded stronger in my mind... It caused me to contemplate the track record of the civil rights movement with regard to homosexuality and sexuality in general.  Over the past few years the civil rights movement has come under fire with respect to its lack of interest and tenacity regarding the GBLT community in spite of the fact that many of its leaders have been openly GBLT.  In my opinion civil rights leaders have marginalized the causes of the GBLT community casing a rift in the political struggles of these two movements.  Much of the social progress that might have been achieved together has been slowed due to the perception that the GBLT movement was not the same as the same as the struggle being fought by Black Americans as well as other ethnic and religious groups in this country.  Mr. Smith's question was posed to me as follows:

"How do you think this message would be received if I went to Ferguson and recited it in front of the collective protesters?"

Bobby Smith, you throw an interesting and essential wrench into the broad bag of civil rights causes.  Some 50 years after the first major civil rights movement the issues of homosexuality and sexuality in general have finally surfaced after being purposely suppressed in order that racism in specific could remain the primary concern.  Now there are some merits to this 1960's strategy given the times and while this does not make it right it certainly made the movement more effective by reducing the number of competing issues America had to weigh at that most difficult time.  A similar event happened 150 years earlier with the women's suffrage movement.  From the early 1700s right down until the Emancipation Proclamation was written abolitionists and suffragists traveled the same lecture circuits between Europe and the United States each visualizing their causes as equally essential and as so intimately connected to be treated as one cause.   Unfortunately as history has shown us though abolitionists and suffragists protested hand in hand the suffrage movement was completely ignored when Lincoln emancipated the slaves.  At that time Lincoln and congress determined that America was not yet ready to deal with both causes though both were certainly valid. 

Tintype of Dred Scott

In the 1960’s after a rough period of about 100 years since emancipation the evil truth of racism again arose before the nation as the issue of primary concern.  Now we are witnesses to the rise of the sexual revolution which has advanced to the front line of the civil rights movement but not without some much expected resistance.   Historically the civil rights community has been raised to ignore the concerns of the sexual revolution because sex has been perverted into a dirty and uncomfortable subject in American culture and leaders are concerned that their images  are not besmirched or polarized with sexual issues at the expense of other humanitarian concerns such as racism and economic bias.  I am certain that the protesters in Ferguson certainly do not want to divert attention from the issue at hand which is racism in general but murder and discrimination against black men, Michael Brown in specific. But there is no better place to share your concerns than in Ferguson  which is already primed and open to the cause of egalitarianism having been victimized so horribly by the lack of it. 

So I must ask you honestly Bobby Smith, turning your own question back upon you; “what kind of response do you expect to receive if given a chance to read your article to the demonstrators at Ferguson a population which is already focused on a different application of civil rights protest?  To conclude my response please allow me to say that I passionately support your mission to raise awareness of sexual discrimination within the ranks of the civil rights movement among the outraged population of Ferguson but I must also ask you to please clarify if there is any physical tie-in with the motive for the assassination of Michael Brown of which you are aware?  More directly, was Michael Brown homosexual or was he perceived to be gay perhaps through his personal associations and if so was his murderer was aware of this; might it have motivated the policeman to kill him and inspired the local police and judicial system to discriminate against him?  Is there a clear link between the assassination of Michael Brown and the historical trend of the civil rights movement to downplay homosexual rights that makes gay rights stand out among all the components of the big bag of civil rights as a concern to be weighed equally in the protest and trial of the violent and senseless assassination of Michael Brown? 

FIN

WRITTEN BY: BIGDADDY BLUES

Read the full article by Bobby Smith at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XngP-oqDH8ZDZoYWZBTkl5bU0/edit  

1847 Article on the Dred Scott Trial