blackpantherblvd.com

met with several prominent members of the black panther party. It was such an honor to meet them and converse with them. it seems beyond belief that Blacks of the stature of these giants are just walking around among us, virtually ignored by countless beneficiaries of their courage and sacrifice. There are so many things that need to be done. so many pressing issues in the black community and in the war against oppression. the situation may be more dire today than in the past, and in some ways, must be. for the suffering of the "now" is always greater than the suffereing that has already come to pass. while meeting with this luminary, we were able to come to a meeting of minds about several issues that are pressing in the black community and several pressing needs. 1. a black perspective think tank. 2. re-organization, re-invigoration of the black oakland, grass-roots infrastructure. 3. take back our communities from interloper, non-af-am control (west oakland in particular)_4. turn the tide from oppression to social investment, reversing of hundreds if not thousands of institutionalized racist policies and procedures5. creation ongoing memorials and eduational opportunities for the next generation of freedom fighters. 6. that the black panther party legacy is "ours" all black folks that understand it and embrace it. 7. make available the digital archives of the black panther partyand on and on and on. currently I am sitting on the leadership board of a county-wide non-profit aimed at solving homelessness in alameda county. through this association, I am having the experience of seeing how to create a grassroots, politically active organization, and how to break down, digest and attack various aspects of an overall problem in a methodical way. I hope to use this directly in the effort of black panther blvd.

The Mayflower......Myth and Reality in the beginning.

Photo of the Mayflower replica in Boston, MA.



Only about half the folks that came over to the U.S. from Leiden on the Mayflower were actually puritans. the other half were composed of "others" who were not. The puritans had fled to Amsterdam from England due to their interpretation of the bible. Essentially the puritans felt that the only sanctioned religious practices were those that were spoken of in the bible. If it wasn't in the bible, then it wasn't "religious". such ideas meant that the puritans rejected King James, Bishops, Cardinals, church rituals, the Pope, communion, confession, etc, etc, etc. Pretty radical from a modern "traditional" perspective. Yet, beautiful and simple. it's easy to see how the ideas of the puritans was in it's own, quaint way, compelling, and on another level, spiritually necessary, for if one were truly desirous of living in the ways of God, rejecting the modern post-biblical ceremonies and rites, could possibly endanger one's salvation.

The puritans also believed in a type of spiritual determinism, meaning, that those who would be accepted onto heaven had already been determined in line with God's all knowing will. Yet, for individuals, they could not know if they were to be accepted, yet, through their actions demonstrations of faith, and lack of divergence from that which is holy, it could be divined, who was or was not living within Gods will.

The escape to Amsterdam from England was good preparation for the puritans, in that it taught them how to rely on themselves, and live within a new and different culture... albeit miles away and completely dissimilar from what they would come to experience in Plymouth.

The trip to the U.S. was laborious and took about 4-5 weeks longer than expected, and roughly a third of the passengers and crew perished on the voyage. heading against the current and prevailing winds, the Mayflower averaged roughly 2 miles an hour for the voyage across. (the return voyage by contrast took less than half as long). Seeing as the voyage took place prior to any reliable way of determining longitude, journeys of this sort were largely based on faith. In short, no one ever really knew how long a voyage would take.

What was known about the Americas was that there was a colony in Virginia. Indeed the "pilgrims" were granted a "patent" to establish a community in the area known as Virginia. yet, when they made their way to the curling arm of outer Massachusetts, their supplies were dangerously low, it was near winter and the crew and passengers were in such a state that it was thought best to not continue on a largely uncharted coast to Virginia.

Of curious note, John Smith of Pocahontas fame, had actively bid to be the main military officer and guide for the pilgrims, but the Pilgrims thought better of it. Their thinking was that if they chose Smith over Miles Standish, then they would be at a disadvantage, seeing as Smith would wield the power of knowledge over them and thus, they would be robbed somewhat of their ability to make decisions that were best for them. Knowledge is power, as the adage goes, so they did not want to give that power to Smith.

Once the pilgrims landed, they had to quickly go about foraging for food, building some settlements and figuring out how they were going to survive the winter. They sent a few parties out to check out the surrounding area. They saw a few natives and took off after a group of natives and followed them for several miles until they found a settlement with fresh mounds of earth. They dug into the mounds and found several bushels of corn which would serve as their primary seed for the next spring (if they survived). they headed back to the Mayflower with the corn and observed evidence of large uninhabited settlements. Unknown to the pilgrims, from 1616 until their arrival, native populations on the coast had been decimated by disease, most likely brought to them by English and French traders and fishermen. By some counts, some native tribes had been reduced by 90% or more.

Somehow, the pilgrims survived the winter, which to their benefit was an unusually mild New England winter. They soon made acquaintance with a native American named "Squanto" who had been abducted several years prior and had traveled to England, Spain and Italy before returning. Squanto served as the interpreter for Massasoit, who was the chief Sachem (leader) for the area. Soon a "treaty" was signed and the Pilgrims found themselves as a key political entity among the tribes, and the next fall, there was the famous, "First Thanksgiving".

Other interesting notes:
1. The corn found by the pilgrims, although buried, was perfectly usable. In fact, properly dried corn remains viable for thousands of years.

2. The natives showed the pilgrims how to plant corn and peas. Most of their seed didn't work in the soil seeing as it had been overworked for hundreds, if not thousands of generations. True to popular legend, the natives would place their seed in a rounded mound along with a herring to fertilize it. then on the lower part of the mound they would plant beans. as the corn stalk grew, the beans would attach to the stalk, thus protecting the roots from the sun and dehydration.

3. On one exploration from Plymouth, the pilgrims found what would become Boston. The site sat on a convergence of three rivers, on an easily defended hill. The rivers provided easy access to the Massachusetts interior and the rich fur trade. After having struggled to make their home in Plymouth, the pilgrims decided not to relocate to the "Boston" area

4. There were many native "roads" in existence at the time. at intervals along the road, there were circular pits to the side of the road about a foot deep. Each pit had a story of something that had occurred their in the past. In this way, the native traditions, culture and history was passed on. The importance of these story pits grew even more significant in the years immediately prior to the arrival of the pilgrims, in that up to 90% of the native population was decimated.

5. The shape of the Mayflower was remarkably sound on the seas! in the 20th century, a replica of the Mayflower was built and sailed along the same route as the original. in the midst of the journey, a violent storm kicked up, such that the sails had to be brought down and the Mayflower was allowed to "lean to" through the storm. This is a maneuver whereby the ship is essentially left to the mercy of the sea. Although the modern day "Mayflower" was nervous about the move, he found that the shape of the ship allowed it to easily ride the tumultuous waves like a duck in a windswept lake. In fact, the Captain and crew reported that besides the waves, the ship seemed to be even more stable during the storm.

Shakelton: Don't be fooled.

Photo of Skakelton, Wordsley and crew launching The James Caird for Prince George Island.

I Just finished reading "Endurance" the story of Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackleton's amazing story of striking out to be the first person to cross Antarctica, only to become hopelessly stuck in the Weddell Sea ice pack, and to somehow emerge over 18months later, against all odds, to mount a desperate rescue party for remaining members of his original expedition.

OK, OK, that's the hype.

For the first 2/3rds of this book, I was less than impressed. Shackleton's predicament didn't seem any more dire than a kid stuck in the house during a rainstorm. Sure he was stuck, in the ice, unable to move. BUT, he had dogs, men, supplies, sleeping chambers, and food enough to last for a year or two, not to mention the 1,000 or so penguins, 1,000 or so seals, sea lions and fish that they pulled up from the ice... So what's the problem?

In addition to this, while sitting in the ice, the Weddell Sea went about it's business, which entail twirling in a clockwise fashion, such that even though Shackleton and his crew were stuck in the ice, they were moving in precisely the direction they needed to go, to break free. And break free, is what they were definitely destined to do.

So what gives? A week or so before starting this book, I read the story of the Whale ship Essex.. now THERE'S an adventure. Stuck in the South Pacific, rammed by a derange sperm whale. left in three rickety lifeboats, with no modern equipment (especially since these were the days when Longitude was virtually impossible to ascertain without a noted land mass to orient oneself too.), and trying to move, against all hope, in an Easterly direction, against the wind, tides, current and virtually everything else.

These men survived for almost 100 days, with hardly any water, only flour and water "biscuits" called 'hard tack' and the Captain was on his first voyage as a captain. These men were faced with hardship virtually from the second they entered the water. They resorted to cannibalism in order to survive, and less than half of the men lived to tell the tale, which overtime, became legend and part of the American school curriculum in standard "reader" compilations.

So, you must understand, almost 100 years later, on the cusp of the modern age, with all the supplies, equipment and preparation of Shackleton, I just didn't see his predicament as all that remarkable. During the first 1/2 of the book, it seemed more of a well anticipated occupational hazard.

Now, the story gets really interesting, once they break out of the pack ice and somehow struggle onto Elephant Island. Shackleton immediately launches a 20 foot lifeboat, The James Caird, into the most treacherous seas known to man, for the near impossible destination of Prince George Island. Having read the story of the Whale ship Essex and how it took them nearly 3 weeks of driving into a virtual endless hurricane, which constitutes the normal disposition of the South Atlantic Sea, I KNEW, that the greatness of this story was soon to become unleashed.

Shackleton and his crew sailed into the teeth of the storm, in constant 30 feet seas and rollers which Charles Darwin described as being such a monstrosity that it would strike the fear of death into a man for a week, if he were even to glimpse these swells from a safe perch on the mainland.

Shackleton's adventure, at least the last 1/3rd of it, was so remarkable, and so fraught with danger and near death experiences, only to be saved in the last possible second, that I lost count. I have never before read a story where I felt that one was at the same time so fortunate and blessed, while at the same time, completely, totally and utterly doomed and damned.

And to think that at the end of the ordeal, once Shackleton and his men landed at Prince George Island, he had to undertake an overland journey, over one of the most storm infested islands in the world to get to the whaling port on the other side of the island. This feat in itself was remarkable, in that the route they took, to this day, has never been successfully traversed. An explorer 40 years later, with the most modern equipment, crossed this same island, taking a much easier path and once he was done, he said that the island was very nearly impossible to traverse. he said, "the only way I can imagine Shackleton doing it, is because he had to." not only that, but after having been mired in the ice for a year, making it to Elephant Island, Crossing the South Atlantic Sea in one of the world's acknowledged most incredible sea journey's ever taken, and traversing this island, Shackleton immediately mounted a rescue and for the next 3 months in 3 separate voyages, successfully rescued the rest of his crew.

Well, this story was one incredible story. The Human Animal, is truly amazing. And after reading this book, it renewed my faith, that cross ocean journeys had probably been done, at least several times, if not dozens of times in the history of man prior to the birth of Christ.

A remarkable story and an excellent read.