Pitchforks and Negro Babies: America's Shocking History of Hate

By Dale Marcelle

This book is all about the issue of racism, specifically in America. These are personal experiences from different happenings in the history that proves that racism is real. The story tells stories from 1600 to the twentieth century. This will surely inspire people to think about the issue of racism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524625764

Dale Marcelle

Dale Marcelle is the author of Fire in the Streets, a history of the criminal justice system in America. Because of the use and popularity of that textbook, he was asked to perform talks about the history of racism in the United States. The lecture series became quite popular at colleges and universities in the Southern California area, and Marcelle was also asked to speak at bookstores, historical societies, club meetings, and police academies. These talks led to this work, a comprehensive and disturbing history of the relationship between various and very diverse groups of immigrating and Native Americans. Dale Marcelle was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He migrated to the Los Angeles area and started a career as a rock musician. Better known for his guitar work, he always continued his lifelong study of African American struggle through the unique history of the United States. This work is the latest result of that frightening journey.

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America’s Shocking History of Hate

PITCHFORKS and Negro Babies

By: Dale Marcelle

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© 2016 Dale Marcelle. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/26/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2577-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2575-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2576-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016913719

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Introduction: Section One

Introduction: Section Two

Preface

Foundation

Forced Labor

PART 1: BLACK WOMEN- WHITE MEN

Chapter 1 The Colonies

Chapter 2 Native American Lands

Chapter 3 Nation Building

Chapter 4 New Nation

Chapter 5 Attacks On Slavery

Chapter 6 Escape Routes

Chapter 7 Patrol Beats

Chapter 8 The Battle for Freedom

Chapter 9 The Coming of Abraham

Chapter 10 War Between the States

PART 2: BLACK MEN AND WHITE WOMEN

Chapter 1 Deconstruction

Section Two: Bitter Revenge

Chapter 2 Western Wipeout

Chapter 3 The Rise of Imperialism

Chapter 4 Terror Worship

Chapter 5 American Aparthied

Chapter 6 Jim Crow Takes Over

Chapter 7 War Becomes Global

Chapter 8 Patriotic Plague

Chapter 9 Race War in America

Chapter 10 Blood Red Summer

Chapter 11 The Bombing of Greenwood

Chapter 12 Hate and Greed

Chapter 13 The Rise Of Queen Eleanor

Chapter 14 New Deals

Chapter 15 Fascism Rising

Chapter 16 A Greedy German Bigot

Chapter 17 A Second Global Disaster

Chapter 18 A Segregated Mess

Chapter 19 Teamwork Abroad

Chapter 20 Missed Opportunity

Chapter 21 Trouble For Apartheid

Chapter 22 The Shadow of Miscegeny

Chapter 23 Light on a Dark Taboo

PART 3: DIVERSITY

Chapter 1 Broken Barriers

Chapter 2 The Powder Keg

Chapter 3 Explosions

Chapter 4 Urban Bombs

Chapter 5 Old Soldiers Killing the Young

Chapter 6 Enter The Crooks

Chapter 7 Feminine Power

Chapter 8 Secular Sunrise

Chapter 9 The New Left

Chapter 10 Twenty First

Chapter 11 Apple Pie Genome

Chapter 12 Haters Banquet

Chapter 13 Burning Crosses

Chapter 14 Family Fueds

Chapter 15 Negro Babies

Conclusions

Dedicated to all the Inspiring Students in my classes and to

Professors Alan Kim and

Terry Timmons for being

Awesome Educators.

And to all The Angel Children of our Mixed Race and Diverse

Genetics in America.

Cover Design By Dale Marcelle

Thanks to Jesse Lee Vargas.

INTRODUCTION: SECTION ONE

I remember history classes before and during high school as being fairly unremarkable. Although I was very interested in the important events from our glorious past, the classes never seemed to be giving me the real story, at least not the hard truth. It felt like I was being fed a carefully manipulated line for some reason, not the unfiltered facts about things that had really happened. I had also heard some very interesting stories from my family’s past, while growing up in the Deep South. Powerful memories shared with us youngsters by very old relatives that made me wonder about the history I was receiving in school.

Following up on my suspicions led me to discover a deeper history that is much more interesting, exciting and important than the drab stories we are typically fed to build patriotism in high school classes. This secret history is very controversial; the truth usually is. But that hidden story needs to be told. So I decided to tell it in my very own way.

Our African ancestors loved history. Many of the cultures originating from that continent transmitted information between generations orally. Oral histories are fragile and sometimes splinter but little pieces often survive. Some of those pieces from my family’s long dead oral history did survive and alerted me to the fact that I was not getting the real story of American history in my public education.

- Beyond these obsessions I have always enjoyed investigating the hidden stories of the tumultuous American black experience. Avoided and abandoned by whites, it has always peaked my interest. These two passions guided me into an interesting adventure.

When an incident that I had heard was very common to friends and relatives in the black community finally happened to me, I was shocked and surprised. I should not have been unprepared since I had been warned that others had experienced this kind of treatment for decades. But when this strange occurrence happened to me, I became obsessed with getting to the bottom of why this ugly incident happens to anyone.

INTRODUCTION: SECTION TWO

The Ugly Taboo

The incident that started my search for real history occurred during the 1990’s in Orange County, California while I was working at a telemarketing office in the city of Tustin near Santa Ana, California.

One day as the shift ended, a new employee I had just trained said her car wouldn’t start in the parking lot. After we tried for an hour to get it going with no success, I was asked to give her a ride home to Huntington Beach since that’s also where I lived. No problem, I thought, and I really did not think twice about the situation. But having grown up in the South, I should have.

There was not much conversation as I was driving her home until we crossed into Huntington Beach. There, suddenly, a police car started following us.

We were both tired so this was a shock that broke the silence. Police lights frightened me back then. Lately, here in the twenty- first century, because of my work with police academies, running into cops has been a pleasant experience. But this was back in the early 1990’s. My thoughts back then were, here comes a pretty racist guy with a gun.

Why is he pulling you over? she asked, You got warrants?

I’ve never had an arrest warrant in my life. I replied.

Then why is he pulling us over? She asked again.

Maybe he doesn’t like the fact that you are white and I am black.

She gave me a comically puzzled look, That’s lame! she almost yelled.

Yes it’s definitely lame, I replied, But that’s my guess because I haven’t broken any laws.

I’ll bet you gotta warrant!

It seemed to take quite a while for them to come up to the window after they stopped us. I could see them in my mirror taking their time.

Here’s my license and registration, sir. What did I do?

The policeman stared at me with an angry look on his face. And he didn’t seem interested in my paperwork.

Step out of the car.

At this point I knew we were in trouble. I could then hear my very upset passenger scream loudly:

Why should I get out, I wasn’t driving!?

She still didn’t realize what was happening. She also didn’t realize you should not yell at cops. I was still trying to hand over my license when the officer ignored my paperwork and started asking angry questions.

Is that your girlfriend or just a date!?

Neither. I said, I don’t really know her, I’m giving her a ride home from work.

Bullshit! He fired back, Are you having sex with this girl?!

No way, I don’t even know her!

I could hear that the other discussion was getting louder. The girl continued to yell at the other cop, and he was shouting back; Expletives were flowing.

Its obvious you guys are together. The officer talking to me continued, clearly a bit distracted by his fellow patrolman screaming back at my passenger. So don’t lie to me, Negro.

At least he didn’t say Nigger. This was during the time when cops used the n-word constantly.

I swear to you I hardly know this woman.

Fuck you!! My passenger yelled at her interrogator. That is not a phrase cops appreciate. My officer was abruptly thrown off by the veracity. I took the opportunity to convince him.

Trust me, sir, she is definitely not my type! I said, trying to talk over the commotion. I intended the racial inference knowing that was the basis for the inquiry.

She’s a loud one. He muttered looking over at the noise.

Really. No thank you on that one, sir. I said quickly, In fact, when you finish with me I’d like to go home and let you guys deal with this.

He must have believed me because his attention was now on the others. After a few seconds he turned to me:

You swear you are not fucking this woman?

I swear to God!

After another few seconds he said: Get the hell out of here.

I jumped into the car and started it up. But to my surprise she came bolting for the car door and jumped in.

I’m not riding with those assholes! She blurted as she landed on the seat. (Great!) I said to myself in utter disappointment. I looked at my cop and he waived as if to say, Go! The car was already started so I went. But I could quickly see in my rear view mirror that the other cop was not happy. After a short word with his partner they jumped into the patrol car.

Oh no! Those jerks are following us again. My passenger yelled looking back at the coming patrol car. My heart sank; they were behind us once more.

I had been hearing about this type of incident all my life. From elders when I was very little, from my uncles and older cousins during talks and gossip sessions, from friends who heard stories and were witness to ugly events, it was widely reported that cops did not like to see black males in the company of white females, especially on dates. I knew that the black community in America did not get along with local white police historically for many reasons. I had learned that the American criminal justice system had evolved from systems for slavery. But this black guy- white girl, death penalty crime thing I just didn’t get. These events were quite notorious in the lore of the American black experience. And most of these occurrences ended badly for the black males involved, sometimes even fatally. So this was very frightening.

What is their fucking problem?! My passenger shouted looking back at the patrol car.

I told you! I reminded her. She looked at me like I too was crazy. I was preparing to pull over again when she said:

Don’t stop!

What?! I yelled, You want me to make a run for it? You’re crazy!

While we were arguing I noticed the patrol car falling farther behind. He was suddenly slowing down.

What’s he doing? She asked gazing backwards.

The police car had stopped abruptly, then turned and took off at a high rate of speed. When I talked about this later with a police official, he said the officers must have received a call for service from their radio and had to abandon the harassment. As we sat stunned watching them leave, my passenger turned to me:

What the hell was that about?!

I warned you, they don’t like black guys in the car with white girls!

What kind of shit is that?!

You don’t know much about racism, do you?

We have to report these cops!

To who?! I asked mockingly.

To their bosses.

Their bosses are just a bad! No cops like seeing black guys and white girls together. Their bosses are worse!

This makes no sense, why should they care about our race?

You’re right about that one but it’s the way of the stupid world, my friend.

As I drove her home there was no more conversation. We were both shocked. As I dropped her off she barely said goodbye in a way that seemed like she never wanted to see me, or the cops, ever again.

Although I was aware of this practice of harassing mixed couples, this was stunning. Even though I had been rousted several times by cops in Orange County for being in the car with white males, those were just the normal racist harassment. This occurrence was different; this was truly dangerous.

That incident caused me to go on a mission. My obsession was now to find the roots of this insanity. No one wanted to talk about it and nothing was written. But I was determined to find out why police officers had this awful attitude about black guys in the company of white girls. Little did I know that the entire history of America was based on this insane and ugly taboo!

PREFACE

During my lectures to younger, mostly white students in Orange County, I became aware of a major difference between them and their parents and grandparents. The younger whites were much more aware of racism because they were not nearly as racist themselves. It seems the less racist you are the more you can recognize bigotry. The students were not as racist and therefore much more aware of racism in general. But, ironically, they were almost completely unaware of what drove their parent’s racism, white supremacy, at its core.

They were always shocked to discover that it was quite recently a capital crime for a black man to date a white woman. Very few even knew of the taboo. It’s hard to believe how black male-white female unions became the one big, explosive issue in the history of American race relations. And how later the local police became the judge, jury and executioners on this forbidden crime.

The taboo of black male-white female contact and the forbidding of black female-white male relationships are at the core of the unique nature of race relations in the United States. But where, when and how did this odd core ever get started? It’s a twisted, shocking and very secret story.

My lectures on racism would sometimes begin with discussion of an incident that occurred at the end of a championship football game between the powerful University of Oklahoma and the underdog from Boise State in 2007. After Boise State defeated the higher ranked Sooners from Oklahoma with an exciting play at the end of the contest, the game’s hero, a tailback with obvious African American genetics, made a very public marriage proposal to his cheerleader girlfriend in the end zone. The girlfriend happened to be a white female. At the time everything seemed fine and a celebration of the win and the proposal ensued. I tell my audiences that even as I watched this cute, romantic gesture at the end of the game I knew there would be huge repercussions. In fact, many African Americans watching the game cringed at the mixed- race proposal. This was being watched on national television across the United States, a country with a long history of white supremacy.

It was soon reported a few days later that the football hero and his cheerleader girlfriend received many death threats from across the country because so many Americans still felt that black male-white female unions were not acceptable.

Almost two years after that game I had a great conversation about it at a multi-cultural festival in Southern California with an elderly black former government employee whose job had dealt with civil rights issues. We were discussing President Obama’s election and the state of racism in America when the subject of that game came up. He was watching it as it happened also and said he, like me, had cringed when the proposal was made. But his take on the negative reaction by bigots was strangely positive. He said the volume of death threats from hateful fans gave him hope for our future relationship with white America! I was profoundly confused until he explained his optimism.

He pointed out that even though the young mixed couple received hate mail from many fans, it would have been ten times worse if it had happened just ten years earlier. He went on to say that such a display of affection on national Television in the United States between a black male and a white female in the nineteen- seventies or eighties would have been extremely dangerous to the lives of the two students involved. So in his opinion white America had changed significantly on that subject and was still evolving positively.

But ultimately I was seriously wondering why the attraction of a white woman to a black man ever became so terrifyingly forbidden that it was dangerous even in the twenty first century! The answer is embedded in a secret and troubled American history that we were never taught in school.

FOUNDATION

History clearly shows us that the past is never really gone. The fact that things constantly change is partly an illusion that we magnify. Even when it seems like a memory, the present is still shackled with that past, as they both are pregnant with the future. And they often interchange suddenly.

A great example of a part of history being a hidden component of the present is slavery. We are taught in school that it is long dead and no longer important. But aside from the slavery that still goes on, the shadow of all those years of bondage looms heavily over the American culture today in many hidden ways.

The first thing American history fails to admit is that slavery built this country. There would be no United States, as we know it today without the profitable industry of slavery.

FORCED LABOR

America became one of the most powerful and dominant countries in western history because of two centuries of forced hard labor by a large, unpaid work force of people brought over from Africa in chains. We modern Americans don’t like to admit that slavery is why this country became so incredibly wealthy. The institution of African bondage was one of the biggest cash cows the planet has ever seen. Economists point out that in the 1850’s slavery was making more profits than big business, banking, railroads and all other industries in the U.S. combined!

The use of forced labor made the southern states a formidable economic power that could have won the Civil War. If the South had defeated the North in the 1860’s, or earlier during 1850, when the war almost started and the South had a better chance to win, slavery could be thriving right now in the Confederate areas of this country. The shadow of slavery still looms large and continues to deeply affect the culture of this country in many subtle ways, but as we will see, if things had gone just a little differently, it might still be a part of our lives here in the 21st century.

The most important feature of slavery was its enormous profitability; it made so much money that its evils were dismissed as trivial. It caused many huge problems but as we all know wealth can overcome big difficulties. Unfortunately, wealth has always been considered more important than human suffering (and more important than almost everything else!). The profits being generated by slavery made the colonists blind to any objections. And there were many, major objections.

Many of our institutions of higher learning, our states, cities and townships, huge corporations and even the sources of industrial power all have their roots in money from slavery. Slavery is as American as the Constitution, which was drawn up to protect it. So the wealth from slavery is still with us, but so is the poverty and deprivation of the unpaid workforce and its descendants. There were no forty acres and no mules and no welfare department for that population that formed the labor force so their descendants will remain victims of the crime of slavery in America for centuries.

The biggest shadow of that horrible institution remains the stain of white supremacy. One of the greatest historians in American history was a white southerner named C. Van Woodward, and he states it clearly:

…Slavery was one of several ways by which the white man has sought to define the Negro’s status, his ‘place’, and assume his subordination. Exploitation of the Negro by the white man goes back to the beginning of relations between the races in modern times, and so do the injustices and brutality that accompany exploitation. Along with these practices and in justification and defense of them, were developed the old assumptions of Anglo Saxon superiority and innate African inferiority, white supremacy and Negro subordination…

So slavery continues to cast shadows over our modern times economically and in the social attitudes that still place obstacles between groups of Americans. The development of systems to help the downtrodden was put back centuries by the existence of slavery. It also slowed the development of labor rights over the years. But we are erroneously taught in schools that it has disappeared from historical significance in America. It is rarely brought up in history classes, even less in economics or social teachings. This dishonesty is at the heart of many of our social problems.

As a pre- teenager growing up in Louisiana I could not wait to visit my grandmothers first cousin we called Aunt Lump. Her real name was Lee Ester Scott but as a child she was so small she picked up the nickname Lump. Although she lived on a big farm on the other side of town she was very close to her cousin, my grandmother, and her cousin’s daughters and grandchildren. Aside from the fun of visiting a farm I really looked forward to meeting very old relatives who were quite often also visiting my great aunt at the same time we kids came over. The older relatives were full of stories from their lives and the lives of their parents. I would later discover that these tales were the remainders of an oral tradition that had come down through these relatives for generations. Long before I arrived the tradition had been splintered by disinterest from earlier generations but these people, some around a century in age, continued to share these experiences with every new generation they could reach. Quite fascinated, I was a very good listener.

From years of listening to these very old relatives share their stories I realized that these talks were based on an organized narrative. Different individuals would sometimes share the same events when speaking beyond their own experiences and the overlaps were of important incidents or recurring themes in the family story. It became clear to me by the time I was a teenager that this history did not match what I was getting in the classroom.

There were big differences in the descriptions these old relatives were giving me of their own experiences from the era of segregation, and the relation of older stories from the times of slavery. Segregation tales were more directly brutal and savage occurrences whereas the slavery era, though also frightening, was overall much more intimate, as the people all seemed to be closer together as a group.

During the slavery years most of the brutality and murder involved the slaves that worked the fields and was mostly the result of the huge problem of slaves running away for freedom. Conversely, the domestic slaves, called house niggers, enjoyed a closer, sometimes almost family type relationship. There were many more field hands than house niggers so brutality reigned but the smaller number of domestic relationships would eventually prove to be of great importance.

I noticed early, however, that these old relatives I was listening to had a peculiar accent. I remember asking my mother: Why do they talk like that? Old white people don’t talk like that, where do they get that accent?

I discovered that the way a large number of African Americans speak even today is affected by an early practice of the slave trade. Africans captured and being transported to the new world to perform slave labor had their tongues torn out during the early generations of the trade. The reason given by the captors was that cutting out the tongues prevented communications between the captives thereby limiting the chance of slave uprisings on the slave ships bound for the colonies. After arriving on the new continent and being sold as slaves, these first generations learned to speak English anyway but with only half their tongues. This resulted in a horribly choppy accent that was passed on from one generation to the next even after the practice of tearing out the tongues was abandoned.

There followed generations of African Americans with an ugly, halting accent that was the result of being taught English by parents with slashed tongues. This choppy accent slowly diminished over the centuries but survives today in a more subtle form among African American descendants. One of my sisters even today will request that I axe a question of my brother who lives closer to my Los Angeles area home in San Francisco. I once replied, You want me to ‘Axe’ him, to chop him up?! She then forced herself to pronounce Ask.

There are many leftovers from the awful institution of slavery, but many have become too subtle to recognize. They are there, however, the largest being the culture of white supremacy that slavery put in place that continues to haunt our institutions.

PART ONE

Black Women- White Men

CHAPTER ONE

The Colonies

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER that the only reason Africans were ever imported into the colonies as slaves’, was to make money. From this beginning there followed a long history of European settlers making money off the backs of Africans in many profitable ways. But in the late 1600’s the situation was not so clear.

Before the mid 1600’s Africans were simply among the free settlers and indentured servants arriving in the new world. Their main concern was getting along with the Native American landlords so skin color among the settlers was not a major issue. Blacks were simply part of some settlements and not always considered very different. The African slave trade later isolated black people as a free work force, something too valuable for the rich landowners to ignore.

Toward the end of the 1600’s the colonists who bought and then owned African slaves thought of them as livestock. These European settlers came from a culture that strictly divided people into different levels of worth called classes. People were divided into levels from the lowest pauper or poor person who was considered worthless, all the way up to royal families with Kings and Queens who were considered better than everybody. People from a culture of such deep judgmental attitudes cannot help but be very racist. So the African slaves they imported were viewed as livestock or at best as pets, not as equal human beings.

Also rigid were gender rules. Women were not second but third class citizens at best. Men were assumed to be superior human beings by birth! How they could possibly come up with that assessment is anybody’s guess but, surprisingly, this is how it quite firmly was. There was no hint of a women’s movement by the year 1700. But a game change was already beginning to set in. The female European settlers were starting to be affected by the women of the Native American tribes they were competing with. And the Native American women, called squaws, were very liberated.

From the late 1600’s to the end of the Civil War, almost every black woman in America was owned by a white man. Some of the few exceptions were female slaves purchased by free African men for wives. As the slave population expanded in the following centuries this became millions and millions of black women owned for their entire lives by white men. It is easy to imagine the sexual implications of such relationships. Even if the percentages of abuse were small, the result of such controlled contacts had to be quite significant. We have to assume that most of these liaisons were secret under the circumstances, so we cannot expect evidence to be easily found. But a common sense understanding of human nature makes it obvious that this ownership type relationship had to be significantly sexual. And there is much evidence that indeed it was.

Understandably historians do not focus too heavily on this black female-white male relationship, but it obviously had to be intimate. Richard C. Wade in his book titled, Slavery in the Cities writes that: …Blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each others presence. C. Van Woodward in his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, put it very delicately:

The mere policing of slaves required that they be kept under more or less constant scrutiny, and so did the exaction of involuntary labor. The supervision, maintenance of order, and the physical and medical care of slaves necessitated many contacts and encouraged a degree of intimacy between the races unequalled in other parts of the country.

W.E.B. Dubois wrote: …When all the best of the Negroes were domestic servants in the best of the white families, there were bonds of intimacy, affection and sometimes blood relationship, between the races… This was about as close as historians came to describing the obvious fact that sex occurred between slave and master. These acts were deemed heavily forbidden but as we all know ownership has its privileges.

Many references in the histories of the Old South refer to large numbers of mixed-race children. These mulattoes, as they were called, made up a large percentage of the African population throughout slavery and beyond. Any percentage of African blood was considered complete contamination so mulattoes were considered one hundred percent black. This attempt to keep the white race pure completely backfired. As we know very well here in the twenty first century, mixed race kids can look all white, all black and everything in between. In a world of slavery the ones who looked European had the possible option of passing for white, since they looked like white people, and could deny any connection to African genetics. Who could blame them, with the choice of being either master or slave, for choosing the master class?

In the African community this choice was common knowledge and a constant decision for light skinned mulattoes throughout the years of slavery and beyond. In the European community passing was little known and very rarely discussed. This allowed for many mulattoes to slip into the shadows of unclear genetics from the very beginnings of American history. Our mixed up DNA maps of today are the result of these and other racial cross pollinations from deep in our past to the present.

Mixed race children from Native Americans, Asians and Spanish populations also passed whenever they could get away with it. In a white dominated society it simply did not pay to be a minority. The result of this accumulation of mixed race sex was that by the time the awful Confederates of the post Civil War era were committing murder in the name of white supremacy, they were not completely white anymore, they just didn’t know it.

It is