I'll tell you something I learned from a pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1962, in my training to be a medical illustrator: if you remove the skin from a cadaver, it would take a forensic pathologist to determine the ethnic identity of the person - skin color is all external. Here's another tidbit that will make the racial purists spit blood - we are ALL Africans; every person alive on the earth today is descended from people who migrated out of East Africa between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago, and geneticists have shown us the rate and direction of the diaspora by comparing DNA from people all over the world. We are truly all brothers and sisters.....and we were all black or dark until about 8,000-10,000 years ago, when humans reached the Arctic - the weaker sunlight reduced the production of Vitamin D in dark-skinned people, making lighter skin an advantage in the north..... Can't we all just get along.....?
Yes! Exactly! And the question I keep asking myself, which sounds stupid, but isn't really: what IS "white" really? In art, "white" is the combination of ALL colors in the color spectrum. When the early immigrants came here, were ALL of them considered "white' or just certain ones? Were the Spaniards "white"? Were the early Italian immigrants "white"? Are their descendants now "white"? What about the early Irish immigrants? Were THEY "white"? What about the Jewish immigrants? What "color" were they? This whole issue is just stupid, in my opinion. Regardless of what my own DNA tests might reveal, I have no doubt that along the way some of my Southern male forebears fathered children that are my cousins now. So what? I'm the richer for it!
So all these terrified "white" racist men SHOULD spit blood - I doubt very seriously that any of them can claim to pass any sort of "purity" test, no matter how they wish it.
In the book "American Slave Coast" by the Sublettes they mention a letter Jefferson wrote to George Washington late in life noting that slave babies were interest on capital. George Washington worked his slaves throughout harsh winters digging peat in a manner no different than Stalin's arctic gulags.
I read a book about a female cousin of Jefferson’s and in the course of it, they noted slavery as a costly drag on the plantation economies. It wasn’t even working in the time of Jefferson from a financial point of view. Even as slavery was burying them in debt, farmers kept up the practice—as stubbornly and stupidly as “conservative” practice is today.
Lucian, again thank you. Your letter to the NYTimes in the 90s hit me like a thunderbolt. I’d up until that point been given the blank stare - or worse - when talking about Sally Hemings as one of our family members. I got into a heated discussion with several aunts in the early 80s about our “legacy” and came away incredibly depressed. But you have been a beacon for reason and clear eyed attention to the facts, disturbing as they might be, and that two or more thoughts can be held at the same time if you are open minded. My daughter and grandsons have accepted the contradictions and it’s largely because of your opening the door to truth.
All human beings are finally judged by the truth they tell themselves if only inside their conscience. Jefferson honestly believed Blacks were primitives and not likely to change, never mind he kept them in ignorance. Alexander Stephen's repeated this self-serving trash in his 1861 inaugural address as Confederate V.P. and he annoyed quite a few southerners who knew better. Mr. Trump says just about the same in less nasty terms, though just as damaging. The United States is getting better at facing the truth, evidence is all around us. Our children will decide to continue to accept the truth or maybe bury it for a few more decades. Be certain the truth will prevail, the darkness cannot defeat it.
I've often wondered why everyone is so invested in the 'purity' of the Founding Fathers-why were they expected to remain above the morality of the day, untouched by scandal, untainted by human weakness?
Because of the color of their skin, of course. They're white and everyone knows white people are superior because God made them that way.
They would never stoop to touch the people they enslaved. How disgustingly low class. They of course had servants to do that.
Such is the issue when CRT becomes a touchpoint. The racists deny it exists, that it is a 'thing' and that we have any apologies to make for our past treatment of people other than white.
And if you become one of those who believe in the equality of the races, you're gonna get hit with the pies a lot.
Good for your testimony about the statue of Jefferson coming down-I see they passed the resolution. I'm sure that your words made the difference.
Oh, and one other subject-I know you're probably aware of this, but there is a "Naming Commission" that is taking suggestions from the public about renaming Army bases for people who weren't Confederate generals.
You might want to throw in your grandfather's name, and your reasons why for whatever base you think would do-I put in James Gavin's for Benning because he did lead the 82nd Airborne during WWII (Benning is the home of the 82nd, for all those who aren't familiar with the history) and he was also instrumental in integrating the Army after Truman issued the orders to do so.
Maybe even the late Colin Powell will get a base named after him. If one is willing to over look his many moral shortcomings in the past.
Great comment! One slight quibble. The 82nd Airborne is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It's named for Braxton Bragg, also a Confederate general, so it's ripe for renaming.
Having spent two years in Fayetteville, NC, the worst of my adult life where my husband was assigned, I can assure you that a name change won’t improve that f&cking backwater of North Carolina. . .
Oops...sorry. I'd edit it if I could..but Gavin is an appropriate choice anyway because he was a paratrooper! Sorry for the mistake...My father's ghost will come down shortly to hit me upside the head..:)
No worries. Benning is now the home of the Armor School. Since Lucian's grandfather was a tank clanker, he would be an appropriate choice for its new name.
I like that nickname: "Tank Clanker"! It'll be amazing to see how the naming commission will do with all the suggestions they get..which I hope are a lot.
This IS a great country, with all the twists and turns, highs and lows, incredible good and incredible evil of our history. And every American's story is our story.
Neighbors of Eston Hemings once saw a statue of Thomas Jefferson, and one of them asked, 'Who does that look like?' And they all agreed it was the spitting image of Eston Hemings Jefferson. So we actually have a good inkling of what Sally's son Eston looked like, despite the fact that he was an anonymous fiddler and carpenter of color, and an ex slave, part of a shadow family, who went to Wisconsin and changed his skin designation, and then didn't talk about his past, and there are no preserved images of him.
I find it fascinating his white neighbors had decided the genetics argument for him, independently, and over 100 years ago, based on a statue: Eston Hemings was indeed a son of Thomas Jefferson.
Having filmed the Jefferson historian, Dumas Malone at Monticello in the early 1970's I can attest to Malone's livid reaction when he was asked if Sally Hemings was the mother of several of Jefferson's children.
We were in 6th and 7th grade together. I recall her as being extremely smart, and funny, as well as lovely. Please tell her Jillian (mn Atkin) says hello, and I hope she is doing well.
Lucian: First of all, he can go fuck himself, okay... Somehow that note reminds me of some hate mail sent to my cousin Nick Reynolds after he retired the Kingston Trio from touring (after 10 brutal years on the road). It hurt and it scared me. I remember it vividly. Secondly, we're not going to come to anything that resembles peace in this divided nation until we end the hate---that email/slash letter you received is about hate and nothing else. While I don't always agree with you, I read your column probably more than I read anything else (I know, I know), but just about the last thing I'd ever do would be to send a note like that... to anyone. Keep writing, pal.
Good grief. I used to wonder why family and friends turned on each other with the (un)civil war—until trump. Now I know…but it seems like everyone has a trigger finger on their anger. There is no room for compromise. I mean—come on! Jefferson has been dead for a long time; he doesn’t take it personally! 🤪🤭 so why can’t we just discuss the topic?
Hey—anyone notice there are three Repug congressmen indicted by the FBI—including Nebraska’s Fortenberry (who IS AN A$$$hole)?
And the Russian oligarch, Deripaska, got an FBI raid,too 🤣
As if there wasn’t enough money for these GOPigs already.
Meanwhile, the Repug attorney general in Nebraska paved the way for doctors to prescribe off-label use of ivermectin and hydroquinolone to treat all those anti-Vaxers with COVID-19. 🤣😆
On Faux news, Colin Powell’s death is being used as “proof” that the vaccine is worthless—oh, the medical expertise of Trumpanastan ! Powell had multiple myeloma and Parkinson’s disease—his immune system was shot. But hey! The worm-riddled trumpanzees are now free to walk barefoot at the pig farm and fight off malaria in their swamps.
What a fascinating bit of history. Not the death threats of course. It is a shame that we cannot embrace the fact that we are a people of many ethnicity’s and cultures.
I'll tell you something I learned from a pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1962, in my training to be a medical illustrator: if you remove the skin from a cadaver, it would take a forensic pathologist to determine the ethnic identity of the person - skin color is all external. Here's another tidbit that will make the racial purists spit blood - we are ALL Africans; every person alive on the earth today is descended from people who migrated out of East Africa between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago, and geneticists have shown us the rate and direction of the diaspora by comparing DNA from people all over the world. We are truly all brothers and sisters.....and we were all black or dark until about 8,000-10,000 years ago, when humans reached the Arctic - the weaker sunlight reduced the production of Vitamin D in dark-skinned people, making lighter skin an advantage in the north..... Can't we all just get along.....?
When I was young and bold, I wrote in a graduate school essay: "If we all came forth from the rib of Olduvai's Gorge, are we not all African?"
Yes! Exactly! And the question I keep asking myself, which sounds stupid, but isn't really: what IS "white" really? In art, "white" is the combination of ALL colors in the color spectrum. When the early immigrants came here, were ALL of them considered "white' or just certain ones? Were the Spaniards "white"? Were the early Italian immigrants "white"? Are their descendants now "white"? What about the early Irish immigrants? Were THEY "white"? What about the Jewish immigrants? What "color" were they? This whole issue is just stupid, in my opinion. Regardless of what my own DNA tests might reveal, I have no doubt that along the way some of my Southern male forebears fathered children that are my cousins now. So what? I'm the richer for it!
So all these terrified "white" racist men SHOULD spit blood - I doubt very seriously that any of them can claim to pass any sort of "purity" test, no matter how they wish it.
In the book "American Slave Coast" by the Sublettes they mention a letter Jefferson wrote to George Washington late in life noting that slave babies were interest on capital. George Washington worked his slaves throughout harsh winters digging peat in a manner no different than Stalin's arctic gulags.
I read a book about a female cousin of Jefferson’s and in the course of it, they noted slavery as a costly drag on the plantation economies. It wasn’t even working in the time of Jefferson from a financial point of view. Even as slavery was burying them in debt, farmers kept up the practice—as stubbornly and stupidly as “conservative” practice is today.
Lucian, again thank you. Your letter to the NYTimes in the 90s hit me like a thunderbolt. I’d up until that point been given the blank stare - or worse - when talking about Sally Hemings as one of our family members. I got into a heated discussion with several aunts in the early 80s about our “legacy” and came away incredibly depressed. But you have been a beacon for reason and clear eyed attention to the facts, disturbing as they might be, and that two or more thoughts can be held at the same time if you are open minded. My daughter and grandsons have accepted the contradictions and it’s largely because of your opening the door to truth.
It was the same letter that impelled me to reach out to him, too.
I love that.
All human beings are finally judged by the truth they tell themselves if only inside their conscience. Jefferson honestly believed Blacks were primitives and not likely to change, never mind he kept them in ignorance. Alexander Stephen's repeated this self-serving trash in his 1861 inaugural address as Confederate V.P. and he annoyed quite a few southerners who knew better. Mr. Trump says just about the same in less nasty terms, though just as damaging. The United States is getting better at facing the truth, evidence is all around us. Our children will decide to continue to accept the truth or maybe bury it for a few more decades. Be certain the truth will prevail, the darkness cannot defeat it.
I've often wondered why everyone is so invested in the 'purity' of the Founding Fathers-why were they expected to remain above the morality of the day, untouched by scandal, untainted by human weakness?
Because of the color of their skin, of course. They're white and everyone knows white people are superior because God made them that way.
They would never stoop to touch the people they enslaved. How disgustingly low class. They of course had servants to do that.
Such is the issue when CRT becomes a touchpoint. The racists deny it exists, that it is a 'thing' and that we have any apologies to make for our past treatment of people other than white.
And if you become one of those who believe in the equality of the races, you're gonna get hit with the pies a lot.
Good for your testimony about the statue of Jefferson coming down-I see they passed the resolution. I'm sure that your words made the difference.
Oh, and one other subject-I know you're probably aware of this, but there is a "Naming Commission" that is taking suggestions from the public about renaming Army bases for people who weren't Confederate generals.
You might want to throw in your grandfather's name, and your reasons why for whatever base you think would do-I put in James Gavin's for Benning because he did lead the 82nd Airborne during WWII (Benning is the home of the 82nd, for all those who aren't familiar with the history) and he was also instrumental in integrating the Army after Truman issued the orders to do so.
Maybe even the late Colin Powell will get a base named after him. If one is willing to over look his many moral shortcomings in the past.
Great comment! One slight quibble. The 82nd Airborne is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It's named for Braxton Bragg, also a Confederate general, so it's ripe for renaming.
Having spent two years in Fayetteville, NC, the worst of my adult life where my husband was assigned, I can assure you that a name change won’t improve that f&cking backwater of North Carolina. . .
I really should hang my head in shame, as I recall my brother graduated training as a Green Beret at Ft. Bragg in 1966.
Oops...sorry. I'd edit it if I could..but Gavin is an appropriate choice anyway because he was a paratrooper! Sorry for the mistake...My father's ghost will come down shortly to hit me upside the head..:)
No worries. Benning is now the home of the Armor School. Since Lucian's grandfather was a tank clanker, he would be an appropriate choice for its new name.
Grandpa was Cavalry but commanded the 3rd Infantry Division at beginning of war.
Even better as a replacement name for Benning, then.
I like that nickname: "Tank Clanker"! It'll be amazing to see how the naming commission will do with all the suggestions they get..which I hope are a lot.
FWIW, I went through Artillery School. Thanks to that, my wife and I can never agree on the proper volume setting for our radio/CD player.
This IS a great country, with all the twists and turns, highs and lows, incredible good and incredible evil of our history. And every American's story is our story.
Wasn’t it Martha’s late mother who was Sally Hemings’s half-sister?
Neighbors of Eston Hemings once saw a statue of Thomas Jefferson, and one of them asked, 'Who does that look like?' And they all agreed it was the spitting image of Eston Hemings Jefferson. So we actually have a good inkling of what Sally's son Eston looked like, despite the fact that he was an anonymous fiddler and carpenter of color, and an ex slave, part of a shadow family, who went to Wisconsin and changed his skin designation, and then didn't talk about his past, and there are no preserved images of him.
I find it fascinating his white neighbors had decided the genetics argument for him, independently, and over 100 years ago, based on a statue: Eston Hemings was indeed a son of Thomas Jefferson.
Please see: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/1902sprig.html
Having filmed the Jefferson historian, Dumas Malone at Monticello in the early 1970's I can attest to Malone's livid reaction when he was asked if Sally Hemings was the mother of several of Jefferson's children.
Did your daughter attend I.S.44? If so, we went to school together.
Brucha, Indeed she did.
We were in 6th and 7th grade together. I recall her as being extremely smart, and funny, as well as lovely. Please tell her Jillian (mn Atkin) says hello, and I hope she is doing well.
It damn well is a great country, and you're one helluva fine American...keep up the good work and don't let anyone get in your way, Lucian.
Lucian: First of all, he can go fuck himself, okay... Somehow that note reminds me of some hate mail sent to my cousin Nick Reynolds after he retired the Kingston Trio from touring (after 10 brutal years on the road). It hurt and it scared me. I remember it vividly. Secondly, we're not going to come to anything that resembles peace in this divided nation until we end the hate---that email/slash letter you received is about hate and nothing else. While I don't always agree with you, I read your column probably more than I read anything else (I know, I know), but just about the last thing I'd ever do would be to send a note like that... to anyone. Keep writing, pal.
...."Race traitor"? God, man- they hang people for that in Margaret Atwood's "fictional" Republic of Gilead, don't they...
So good, keep slamming truth to power and showing us who we were, who we are and who we can be……
Good grief. I used to wonder why family and friends turned on each other with the (un)civil war—until trump. Now I know…but it seems like everyone has a trigger finger on their anger. There is no room for compromise. I mean—come on! Jefferson has been dead for a long time; he doesn’t take it personally! 🤪🤭 so why can’t we just discuss the topic?
Hey—anyone notice there are three Repug congressmen indicted by the FBI—including Nebraska’s Fortenberry (who IS AN A$$$hole)?
And the Russian oligarch, Deripaska, got an FBI raid,too 🤣
As if there wasn’t enough money for these GOPigs already.
Meanwhile, the Repug attorney general in Nebraska paved the way for doctors to prescribe off-label use of ivermectin and hydroquinolone to treat all those anti-Vaxers with COVID-19. 🤣😆
On Faux news, Colin Powell’s death is being used as “proof” that the vaccine is worthless—oh, the medical expertise of Trumpanastan ! Powell had multiple myeloma and Parkinson’s disease—his immune system was shot. But hey! The worm-riddled trumpanzees are now free to walk barefoot at the pig farm and fight off malaria in their swamps.
As always, well written. Thanks cousin.
What a fascinating bit of history. Not the death threats of course. It is a shame that we cannot embrace the fact that we are a people of many ethnicity’s and cultures.