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ARE WE BECOMING THE ENEMY?

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Surely I am not the only one noticing the impact of outrageous acts of violence on American culture. For a year we have watched Vladimir Putin perpetrate a brutal war on innocent Ukrainian civilians, with no consequences. For years we have watched his friend and buddy Donald Trump get away with egregious illegal behavior, with no consequences. We have watched helplessly as innocent black men and women have been beaten to death by police, and innocent men, women, and children are shot to death by lunatics waving around military-style weapons. And now we watch as our strongest allies are persecuted in Congress by scheming, power-mongering Republicans who only sit in Congress because of their invalid victories in gerrymandered districts. The effect of these images in my consciousness is an enormous sense of powerlessness. Perhaps that is the intention: the news media sets out to make us feel as helpless and powerless as possible, so that we become vulnerable to the power-hungry. The other...
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Honoring Dr. Henry Floyd Gamble on his 161st Birthday

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  Henry Floyd Gamble If you Google my grandfather's name, you will find these articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Floyd_Gamble https://blacklistedculture.com/henry-floyd-gamble/ https://archive.wvculture.org/hiStory/histamne/gamble.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2608784/ https://chaamp.virginia.edu/node/4078 In this piece I will try to imagine the lives of some of his family members, particularly his mother and maternal grandmother. My grandfather was born on a plantation in North Garden, Virginia in the midst of the Civil War, on January 16, 1862. He was one of ten children. Henry's father, Henry Harmon Gamble, was a foreman on the estate; his mother, Willie Ann Howard, had been enslaved on the Howard's Neck Plantation in Goochland County, Virginia. Up to this point I have not been able to find the name of the estate where the Gamble family lived. I also don't know whether Willie Ann was sold from Howard's Neck to the North Garden plant...
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Say Her $12 Million Dollar Name!

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Breonna Taylor On September 15th, the family of Breonna Taylor was awarded a twelve million dollar out-of-court settlement from the city of Louisville. Breonna Taylor had been shot and killed by police while she was sleeping in her own bed in her own home. To date, none of the policemen involved in the shooting have been arrested, which happened in March. It is now six months later. This is said to be the highest out-of-court settlement amount paid for the life of a black woman ever. In fact, some say that it is the highest amount paid for a black life, period - male or female. How did black female life become so worthless? There was a time when top dollar was paid for black female slave bodies on the auction block, because of the babies she could produce generating more profits for her owner. Then we reached the point in American society where black women were seen as maids or prostitutes and nothing more. Whites enjoyed the illusion of seeing black women as being so impoverished that...
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Anne Gamble Kennedy

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Anne Gamble Kennedy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anne Gamble Kennedy Anne Gamble Kennedy  (25 September 1920 – 11 June 2001) was an American classical  pianist , piano professor, and accompanist for the  Fisk Jubilee Singers  of Nashville, Tennessee. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Recordings 4 References Early life Anne Lucille Gamble was born in  Charleston, West Virginia  to Dr.  Henry Floyd Gamble  and the former Nina Hortense Clinton. [1]  She was the younger of two children born to that union. She had two older step-siblings, Katherine Lee Gamble and Henry Floyd Gamble, Jr. Anne was eleven years old when her father was killed in a car accident in 1932. Dr. Gamble's mother had been a slave on the Howard's Neck Plantation in  Goochland County, Virginia . His father, Henry Harmon Gamble, was a foreman on the same plantation, and of Scotch-Irish and Native-American descent. [1]  Anne's mo...
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