Origin Of Jim Crow

Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy "Owes" Apology to Gun Industry

Last week newly appointed Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy  launched into a scathing attack against America’s firearms industry.  As part of a church service held by anti-gun protester Rev. Michael Pfleger, Mr. McCarthy proudly stated:

“Everybody’s afraid of race. I’m not afraid of race. So here’s what I want to tell you. See, let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What, what did they all have in common? Anybody getting’ scared? Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms, into our urban centers across this country, that are killing our black and brown children .The NRA does not like me, and I’m okay with that. We’ve got to get the gun debate back to center, and it’s got to come with the recognition of who’s paying the price for the gun manufacturers being rich and living in gated communities.”

That these comments came out at Rev. Pfleger’s church is no surprise.  In May 2007, during a protest with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Pfleger threatened the life of gun-shop owner John Riggio.  “We’re going to find you [the owner] and snuff you out. you know you’re going to hide like a rat. You’re going to hide but like a rat we’re going to catch you and pull you out.” The reverend was subsequently suspended by the Church for these hateful remarks.

What is surprising, however, is that such misinformed and hateful rhetoric would come out of Chicago’s highest-ranking police official’s mouth. He sounded more like a politician pandering to a crowd for votes than a serious, professional law enforcement official.  Mr. McCarthy could use a history lesson as well.  He’s correct that the origin of gun control is rooted in racism, but not for the reasons he thinks. Gun control began in the South during the Reconstruction era as a means to disarm recently freed slaves.

What makes Mr. McCarthy’s attack so egregious is that as a law enforcement official he should know better than anyone else the close cooperative relationship America’s firearms industry has with law enforcement.  For more than 200 years America’s firearms and ammunition industry has made products that have been part of our country’s tradition of freedom, self-reliance and enjoyment of the great outdoors.  We proudly manufacture the high-quality firearms used by the U.S. military and law enforcement officers (even Superintendent McCarthy) all across America for use in protecting our nation and keeping all our communities safe.

Peace News: Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6 1917; she was the daughter of Jim and Ella Townsend.  She was one of twenty children – 14 boys and 6 girls.  In growing up in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the young Hamer suffered from the twin insults of poverty and racism.  One has to keep in mind the daunting cultural, economic and political realities that a black person faced in Mississippi at that time; Mississippi had the most repressive racist policies of that era. In regards to the origin of the word Jim Crow, it seems to have first appeared around 1930.  A white minstrel show actor, Thomas "Daddy" Rice, darkened his features using charcoal and danced a ridiculous dance to the lyrics of a song entitled, "Jump Jim Crow."  Some believe that Jim Crow was the name of a slave holder who "owned" the slave that Rice mimicked in his routine. These were the conditions of life Hamer experienced as a girl and young woman.  Her father was a Baptist preacher and a bootlegger, and her mother was a domestic servant.  Jim and Ella Townsend were sharecroppers.   The life of a sharecropper was one of hard work, poverty, exploitation and violence.  Sharecropping was, in fact, an ante-bellum system designed to replace slavery with cheap labor.  Although the institution of slavery had been abolished, the extreme economic disparity between the races was maintained.  The landlord provided tenants with housing, food, seed and farm equipment from the owner's plantation store at typically exorbitant interest rates and half of the crop.  This system was designed to make it exceedingly difficult for the sharecropper to break free from this onerous system and get ahead.  As a matter of fact, Hamer related a story that testifies to this system.  There was a time when the Townsends were actually getting ahead when a white neighbor intentionally poisoned their animals when they were away.  This singular event proved to be a major economic setback and undermined all the progress they had made. Hamer started picking cotton when she was six - working twelve to fourteen hours per day.   By the time she was thirteen, she was picking 200-400 pounds of cotton per day and receiving one dollar for her efforts.  She had a markedly inferior education.

The Origin of Jim Crow, being an authentic account of the life and adventures of that comic American nigger, Jim Crow : containing the particulars of his birth, parentage and education ...

The origin of Jim Crow, being an authentic account of the life and adventures of that comic American nigger, Jim Crow : containing the particulars of his birth, parentage and education, curious and amusing anecdotes, the original song Jump Jim crow, the inscription on his timpobstone, &c. &c

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