The Daily Dose/October 1, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience:
THE TIMES THEY WERE A-CHANGIN’: Today is the 57th anniversary of James Meredith becoming the first black to attend the University of Mississippi and he figures prominently in today’s column. Meredith is, obviously, the subject of this item, and the occasion is referenced in On This Date and Meredith has today’s Quotebook selection as well. By any measure, it is a momentous day in American history, and it came only 97 years after the end of the Civil War.
Quote That Sucker: In an interview later in his life, Meredith had this to say:
Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.
Why this quote is not on its way to living down the ages is beyond us because it should be embraced by blacks, whites, reds and greens. It cuts right to the heart of what the American experience should be about: a society where the only identity that matters is that of American.
Fly In The Ointment: Should be about, but isn’t. America has always made everyone except white males work like hell for every gain. Even today, 154 years after the Civil War, we relegate non-whites to second-class status by insisting that American identities be hyphenated.
This is wrong. Sure, all of us come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Personally, half of our blood is as Mexican as a siesta with the other half divvied up between English and German stock. We don’t think of ourselves as anything other than American. And unless you are directly descended from the Indians that originally patrolled these lands, you are descended from someone who came from somewhere else.
USA! USA! But we are all American. To oblige some to further identify themselves by hyphenating their American identity is insulting and until we stop degrading our fellow citizens like this we will always be a racist country.
Some Philosophy Crap: Friends, we rise as a society and we fall as a society. As long as we mandate people refer to themselves as African-Americans or Asian-Americans – or anything other than American – we will always relegate those so required to second-class citizenship.
America The Beautiful: And as long as we keep doing that we will always be a second-class nation.
Today At The Site:
The Diary of a Nobody: The darkest day: they are out of Sparrow’s fave coffee. Today’s Diary.
THEY ARE OUT OF DONUT SHOP KNOCKOFF COFFEE AT THE RETAILER!!!
I am not making that up, tho I wish I were…So I didn’t forget, I went to the coffee aisle before going to see The Wife and in the back of my mind I suppose I noticed the coffee section had been rearranged but I didn’t notice anything in particular till I looked up and BOOM some second-rate national brand was in the spot my treasured donut shop knockoff used to occupy…Further investigation showed it wasn’t moved, it had been replaced: the 32-ounce sacks of the donut shop knockoff, and the Colombian blend, too, for that matter, were no longer being carried.
I was completely leveled…It was unreal…I stood staring at it with my open for several seconds…Then, like an idiot, I even looked up at the aisle number to make sure I was in the right place.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life
The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 6 will move Wednesday.
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On This Date
In 1962 – James Meredith, escorted by federal marshalls, becomes the first black to attend the University of Mississippi. The attendant rioting killed two people and injured over 300, including over 150 US Marshals. Meredith was welcomed immediately. To encourage his participation in sports, students in the dorm room above him bounced basketballs all night, and they allowed him privace when using the dining hall. Meredith, an Air Force veteran, had previously attended Jackson State and graduated from Ole Miss the following year with a political science degree and he later earned a law degree from Columbia. Now 86, Meredith lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
In 1944 – The St Louis Browns win their only American League pennant, defeating the New York Yankees 5-2 at Sportsman’s Park on the last day of the season. The Browns had begun the day tied for first with the Detroit Tigers, who lost at home 4-1 to the Washington Senators. The Browns would lose their only World Series to the St Louis Cardinals in six games and would become the Baltimore Orioles after the 1953 season. The began play in the American League in 1902, after moving from Milwaukee.
In 1966 – Cherish by the Association is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second of three consecutive weeks. It was the second of five Top 10 hits for the group and their first of two #1s, the group also hitting the top with Windy the following year. The song also went to #1 in Canada and was Billboard’s second biggest song of the year. It later was a hit for David Cassidy, who peaked at #9 with it in 1972.
Quotebook
Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.
James Meredith
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The was not an MVP for the 1947 World Series. The first such award was issued in 1955.
Today’s Stumper
What pitcher had the most wins for the 1944 St Louis Browns? – Answer next time!
