When the silence protesting racist violence was louder than words
Children in the Silent Protest Parade in NYC, July 28, 1917
As I sit and watch a racist white supremacist spewing hate and venom from the White House each day; as I see that close to a third of the population of Puerto Rico has taken to the streets in protest, demanding democracy and justice; as children are still held in inhumane detention cages, I think back to a march that took place in New York, sparked by the slaughter of black men, women, and children in East St. Louis, Illinois, in July 1917—a massacre of epic proportions:
A memorial petition to the U.S. Congress, sent by a citizen committee from East St. Louis described it as “a very orgy of inhuman butchery during which more than fifty colored men, women and children were beaten with bludgeons, stoned, shot, drowned, hanged or burned to death—all without any effective interference on the part of the police, sheriff or military authorities.” In fact, estimates of the number of people killed ranged from 40 to more than 150. Six thousand people fled from their homes in the city, either out of fear for their lives or because mobs had burned their houses.
There had also been the recent lynchings of Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas, and of Ell Persons in Memphis, Tennessee, to name just two of the hundreds of terrorist actions committed against black people.
Gruesome public spectacle lynchings traumatized the African American community. The crowds of hundreds or thousands of white people attending as participants or spectators included elected officials and prominent citizens; white press coverage regularly defended the lynchings as justified; and cursory investigations rarely led to identifications of lynch mob members, much less prosecutions. White men, women, and children fought over bloodied ropes, clothing, and body parts, and proudly displayed these “souvenirs” with no fear of punishment
Black people had had enough.
A march took place on July 28, 1917.
A march of black men, women, and children, silently parading past white bystanders.
... nearly 10,000 black men, women, and children wordlessly paraded down New York’s Fifth Avenue. Silently marching to the beat of a drum, the throngs of protesters clutchedpicket signs declaring their purpose and demanding justice.
“Make America safe for democracy.”
“We march because we deem it a crime to be silent in the face of such barbaric acts.”
“We march because we want our children to live in a better land.”
Their tactic was silence, but their message resounded: anti-black violence is unjust and un-American.
It was the first protest of its kind in New York, and the second instance of African Americans publicly demonstrating for civil rights.
Black women marching.
The National Humanities Center has a downloadable PDF on “The Negro Silent Protest Parade.”
A short newsreel clip of the march:
Two years ago Google posted a Google Doodle for the parade’s 100th anniversary:
100th Anniversary of the Silent Parade
There was no singing, no chanting — just silence.
On July 28, 1917, the only sound on New York City’s Fifth Avenue was the muffled beat of drums as nearly 10,000 African American children, women, and men marched in silence in what came to be known as the Silent Parade. It was one of the first mass protests of lynching and anti-black violence in the United States. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis Riots of 1917, during which between 40 and 250 Black people were killed and thousands more displaced by white mobs.
Organized by the NAACP, including leaders James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B Du Bois, the protest demanded that President Woodrow Wilson take the legislative action to protect African Americans that he had touched on during his presidential campaign. Although the demonstrators marched in silence, their message was very clear. One sign read, “Mr. President, why not make America safe for democracy” — a challenge at a time where the President was promising to bring democracy to the world through World War I while Black Americans were being stripped of their civil rights at home.
This is not the first time I’ve written about this history. I feel compelled to bring it up again, in hopes that people across this nation, and groups that organize so well for a variety of crucial issues, will come together and call for massive marches to stop the racism and white supremacy that reigns here and has run amok.
Yes, we need to vote. Yes, we need to take back the White House and the Senate, hold the House, and reclaim state legislatures.
More than that, I feel we need to show the world, and ourselves, that white supremacy is not democracy.
I ask, when will there be a massive march of predominantly white people eschewing and disavowing the foundational evil of this nation? When will that march take place in cities across the U.S. like those that took place for women?
Far too many people are ready to quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at me, not wanting to address racism, telling me and mine that Dr. King talked about “content of character.” Dr. King was assassinated by a white supremacist because he was a black man pushing back. Period.
Some older folks harken back to having marched in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.
Reminder: Racist Charlton Heston was there. Racist Mitch McConnell was there. Reminder: That was 56 years ago. Since that time, this country has raised a new crop of racists and white supremacist terrorists.
If you think systemic racism has nothing to do with black health outcomes, unequal pay, incarceration rates, voter suppression, areas of environmental pollution, housing and school segregation, rabid anti-immigration, then I have bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. If you think white folks are voting for Trump and company due to “economic insecurity,” you need to wake up and smell the black coffee.
Now is the time for every person who lays claim to liberalism or progressivism, or to being an ally to those of us who bear the brunt of the hate, to take a stand, and keep standing.
Seize the time, and then march forward.
Black folks are about 13% of the U.S. population.
We can’t fix a problem we didn’t make.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...testing-racist-violence-was-louder-than-words
