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Tobias Hustleman 22 July 2008 Ish You Should Know 87 views One Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Do you know who this man is?  You should…

Previously Featured on “Ish You Should Know,” I relayed a story about L.F. Eason, a North Carolina state employee of 29 years who refused an executive order to lower the flags for Jesse Helms. Sadly, I don’t think he got his job back for making a solid statement, but hey, my state did elect a racist senator for 30 some odd years. It can’t be expected they would just give the guy a slap on the wrist. Hopefully, karmic balance is restored and Mr. Eason finds employment if he hasn’t already.

On to Part deux of my article…You may or may not be wondering how old Jesse could have had anything to do with the Black Panther Party. Yes, he probably drove a college student or two to don the beret and black leather but we are talking direct here people.

Huey P. Newton was a co-founder of a the Black Panther Party movement, and who did he credit as one of his greatest philosophical influences?

If you guessed — Jesse Helms???

I should slap you right now…

That gentleman’s name is Robert F. Williams. It’s a shame that I am a man of 30 years and in my 30th year, I stumble upon an article about Robert Williams.  As a child in Monroe, NC, Robert Williams so the beating of a black woman by local law enforcement. The officer who carried out the beating was none other than Jesse Helms Sr., father of Jesse Helms Jr. After learning this, it gave me a whole different perspective on Jesse Helms Jr. For me, growing up in NC, Jesse Helms was like a barbecue sandwich and sweet tea. It was just something part of the fabric, but now I realize it is so much more. Here is a man obviously raised as a racist painting himself as a leader. This wasn’t a man preaching unity or progression of race relations. This was a relic of a time that should have long passed. Again, I applaud Mr. Eason for standing up.

Check out the video below.  It is rather long, but give it a listen as you have time. While watching, it made me think about the leaders who have fallen. What would the King say in an interview 20 years later or what would Malcom X say?  Robert Williams and the Monroe movement are muted pieces of the Civil Rights movement. In the interview, he speaks of an old white man crying saying the negroes have guns. I am not an advocate of violent resistance but Mr. Williams’ resolution was profound. He realized society would change once black people learned how to be equal. Sadly, it was the gun in that instance but the gun is knowledge now.

It is surreal how amazing that resolution was and I don’t care to make this ethnocentric. This is a societal issue.  Violence these days is inbred. Why do you hate that man down the street? Is it because he’s black? Mexican? He wears red, black or gold? If you don’t know why you hate him? Is it because of what you learned from those before you? Robert Williams hit the nail on the head. Young people need a leader or a cause. Get high off resistance to someone telling you that you can succeed because you are certain ethnicity. I am black and proud. If someone is going to hold me back, it has to be me. I am not going to use barriers as an excuse but as a reason to succeed. The interview got me kind of fired up.

Now, I wonder how much of American history has been locked away from me. What do I know about immigrants in New York around the turn of the century or the Japanese during WWII? This isn’t just a black issue. It’s an American issue. I watched an interview about a man who traveled the world without a passport. Granted, his passport was being on the FBI most wanted list but he has seen more of the world than me. I just read about blacks being banned from bars in China duing the Olympic games but Robert Williams was a catalyst in attempting to improve the relations between the US and China. Robert Williams was also an inspiration for third world liberation. If Cuba is an example, I cannot say it turned out all positive but it proves how far reaching a man with a cause can be.

Get off the substance and let learning be your drug. Far be it for me to pontificate, but learning is a drug—and it’s my drug of choice right now. I learned that there were blacks taking up arms in my home state as apart of the movement before the Panthers.  That wasn’t in my history books but I found it anyway.

T. Hustleman.