The Clinton 12

Recall the often used phrase 'the good old days'...the innocent days...apple pie and coffee...where there wasn't drama each and every day...perhaps, we were extremely naive...and they may have been good for you...BUT...the decade of the 50's may have been different for many Americans...dependent on where you resided...this is one of those...the story of 'The Clinton 12'...

The year was 1956...the city was Clinton, Tennessee...and the Federal Government laid down a law that would allow ALL STUDENTS to go to their nearest school...this was now a south problem...throughout the south...as this was what the South fought against in the Civil War...and lost...slavery...the treatment of black people...even though, the war had been won, the treatment of the black people was STILL deplorable...'whites only', rampant...I can recall a trip I made in 1969, on my way to the University of Florida...and still saw signs of just that, in a small town I went thru...

Many cities and school districts of the south...rebelled against the 'order'...one such town, was Clinton, Tennessee...where 12 brave black kids, chose to do just that...enroll in the local high school...it was frightening...as they walked from their neighborhood, to the school...names were called out...gestures...and blockades were a norm...once in the school, bullying was a daily occurrence...

The town's people erupted...stirred up by an outsider...who got the locals to do what they really wanted to do...harass...do not kid yourself, the Klan was alive and well in this region...imagine...I am not going to take you through it all...but it wasn't long before...somebody, er a group, bombed the high school and destroyed it...

As the reps of the city went to Washington DC to get help to resurrect their school...they were turned away  by then Prez, Eisenhower...he was too busy, playing bridge...of course, this is alleged...

The end product...only 1 of the 12 made it thru the system...the others left, by their own volition, or were forced away...and many came back to Clinton...for a brief stay and then got...away...

The book is 'A Most Tolerant Little Town', written by
Rachel Louise Martin...and it is factual...

The key word used throughout that got me flustered...desegregate...and not integrate...I guess, it was because the theory was to stop segregation...pretty much a long shot in the south...still...and I think back to when a fellow teacher told me...he was from Nebraska...that if we were back there, we could not be friends...segregated from the 'Injuns'...a white society?...

Yea, this may have not been the 'good old days'...depending on your color of skin...I used actual pix of the era...judge for yourself...

Moving on...

The NFL kicks off this evening...a good match...Detroit and KC...my FF team is set...and I am expecting mediocrity...ah, hem, that was my Yahoo prediction by it's computer...

Wowser, the toxic environment about Jimmy Fallon...hmmm, really?...we really don't know what people are all about...that is, if this is true...of course, 'they' said the same about the great one, Johnny Carson...

The hardest reffing job in all of sport?...calling balls and strikes...

Boss gave me a Covid test, cuz of my sickness...there have been others in the hood who now have it...I passed...but, I still feel like crap...

I was informed of another of one of my players...who passed...lord have mercy...don't know how or why...but, it does mess me up...my mind...so sad...

Was this a trump free zone today?...