The bombing attack on the Boston Marathon has brought in its wake speculation as to who would have committed this crime and why - and some of this attention has turned to "gun nuts."
The territory of the United States was conquered by force of arms and for centuries a large part of the country (the South) was populated by slaves who were in the majority in most of that region. They of course were subject to engage in flight and rebellion.
The founding of the country represented a number of compromises, largely between the slave region and the rest of the country. In one instance the Southern slave owners got what they were looking for - an amendment to the Constitution that would permit them to organize armed militia to hunt run away slaves and to deal with any actual or potential rebellions, which did at times take place. That was the birth of the Second Amendment.
No one sane and honest would say that slaves ever had a "right to bear arms" either in order to form "well regulated militia" or to hunt for food. The "well regulated militia" was to be organized and led by the slave owners and to consist of white men.
In many ways that still is the point of the Second Amendment as it is actually interpreted and functions. Black, Hispanic and Native people are more proportionally subject to arrest than are other Americans and ex-felons are excluded from the "right" to bear arms. Major cities have created permitting systems that effectively bar all who are not property owners and the process is quite time consuming and costly. In addition residents of public housing (called "social housing" in other countries) are prohibited from owning weapons.
And so in truth the debate is about whether or not mainly white people may own weapons and what sort of weapons.
It is pretty clear to me that the issue will be resolved to continue the current situation of widespread gun ownership that happens to be mostly by white and right wing people. ON top of that we know that our police and militaries are preponderantly controlled by rightists and staffed by the same.
This is the way it is and the way it will continue to be.
Dec 22, 2012
as published in the U.C. Davis Law ReviewSynopsisIn his recent U.C. Davis Law Review article "The Hidden History of the Second Amendment," Roger Williams University School of Law Professor Carl T. Bogus offers a ...
Jan 24, 2013
The second amendment was passed to assure slave owners that they could organize armed white rabble to chase down run away slaves, and this is called a "well regulated militia." ...
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Where Thomas Jefferson's Head Was At...
Who Was Sally Hemings?
Sally Hemings (her given name was probably Sarah) was born in 1773; she was the daughter of Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings, and her father was allegedly John Wayles, Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law. She came into Jefferson's household as part of his inheritance from the Wayles estate in 1774, and as a child probably served as a nurse to Jefferson's younger daughter, Mary (Maria). In 1787, Jefferson was serving as American minister to France when he sent for his daughter to join him, and 14-year-old Sally accompanied eight-year-old Mary to Paris, where she attended both Mary and Mary’s elder sister, Martha (Patsy). Sally returned with the family to theirVirginia home, Monticello, in 1789, and seems to have performed the duties of a household servant and lady's maid.
The only surviving descriptions of Sally Hemings emphasized her light skin, long straight hair and good looks. She had four children (according to Jefferson's records)--Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston--several of them were so light-skinned that they later passed for white. Jefferson never officially freed Hemings, but his daughter Martha Randolph probably gave her a kind of unofficial freedom that would allow her to remain in Virginia (at the time, laws required freed slaves to leave the state within a year). According to her son Madison Hemings, Sally lived with him and his brother Eston in Charlottesville until her death in 1835.
The only surviving descriptions of Sally Hemings emphasized her light skin, long straight hair and good looks. She had four children (according to Jefferson's records)--Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston--several of them were so light-skinned that they later passed for white. Jefferson never officially freed Hemings, but his daughter Martha Randolph probably gave her a kind of unofficial freedom that would allow her to remain in Virginia (at the time, laws required freed slaves to leave the state within a year). According to her son Madison Hemings, Sally lived with him and his brother Eston in Charlottesville until her death in 1835.
Rumors of a Relationship
Rumors of a relationship between the widowed Jefferson (his wife Martha died in 1782, after a difficult delivery of the couple's third daughter) and his attractive mulatto house slave circulated in Virginia society for years: Sally's several children looked to be fathered by a white man, and some had features resembling Jefferson's. In 1802, a less-than-reputable journalist named James Callender published an accusation of the affair in the Richmond Recorder. Jefferson had hired Callendar to libel John Adams in the 1800 presidential election, and Callender had expected a political appointment in the bargain; when he didn't get it, he struck back at Jefferson in print, hoping to cause a scandal and hurt Jefferson's chances for reelection (he was unsuccessful).
The supposed "Tom and Sally" liaison hovered in the background for much of the 19th century, threatening Jefferson's heralded reputation as one of the most idealistic of the founding fathers. In 1873, Sally's son Madison (born in 1805) gave an interview to an Ohionewspaper claiming that Jefferson was his father as well as the father of the rest of Sally's children. Israel Jefferson, another former slave from Monticello, verified this claim. In 1894, James Parton's biography of Jefferson argued the other side of the debate, repeating a long-running story within the Jefferson and Randolph families (Jefferson's mother was a Randolph) that Jefferson's nephew Peter Carr had admitted that he himself was the father of all or most of Sally Hemings' children.
The supposed "Tom and Sally" liaison hovered in the background for much of the 19th century, threatening Jefferson's heralded reputation as one of the most idealistic of the founding fathers. In 1873, Sally's son Madison (born in 1805) gave an interview to an Ohionewspaper claiming that Jefferson was his father as well as the father of the rest of Sally's children. Israel Jefferson, another former slave from Monticello, verified this claim. In 1894, James Parton's biography of Jefferson argued the other side of the debate, repeating a long-running story within the Jefferson and Randolph families (Jefferson's mother was a Randolph) that Jefferson's nephew Peter Carr had admitted that he himself was the father of all or most of Sally Hemings' children.
Gathering Evidence
In the second half of the 20th century, the historian Winthrop Jordan added new fuel to the fire, arguing in a 1968 book that Sally Hemings became pregnant only when Jefferson was in residence at Monticello. This fact was significant, as he was away fully two-thirds of the time. Jordan's work sparked a new, more critical phase of Jefferson scholarship in which sought to reconcile Jefferson's reputation as a principled lover of democracy with his admitted racism and the negative views he expressed about African Americans (common to wealthy Virginia planters of the time).
In November 1998, new biological evidence surfaced, in the form of a DNA analysis of samples from Field Jefferson, a living descendant of Jefferson's paternal uncle, and from Eston Hemings (born in 1808). The analysis showed a perfect match between Y-chromosomes--a match with less than one in a thousand chance of being random coincidence. The same study compared DNA between the Hemings line and descendants of Peter Carr's family, revealing no match. Though the study established probability and not certainty (though several of Jefferson's male relatives certainly shared that male Y-chromosome, none of them were present at Monticello nine months before each time Sally gave birth), it lent new legitimacy to Madison Hemings' long-ago claims that Jefferson fathered Madison and his siblings.
In November 1998, new biological evidence surfaced, in the form of a DNA analysis of samples from Field Jefferson, a living descendant of Jefferson's paternal uncle, and from Eston Hemings (born in 1808). The analysis showed a perfect match between Y-chromosomes--a match with less than one in a thousand chance of being random coincidence. The same study compared DNA between the Hemings line and descendants of Peter Carr's family, revealing no match. Though the study established probability and not certainty (though several of Jefferson's male relatives certainly shared that male Y-chromosome, none of them were present at Monticello nine months before each time Sally gave birth), it lent new legitimacy to Madison Hemings' long-ago claims that Jefferson fathered Madison and his siblings.
Where Things Stand Now
In January 2000, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation accepted the conclusion, supported by DNA evidence, that Jefferson and Sally Hemings had at least one and probably six offspring between 1790 and 1808. Though most historians now agree that Jefferson and Hemings had a sexual relationship, debate continues over the duration of that relationship and, especially, over its nature. Admirers of Jefferson are inclined to see his relationship with Hemings as a romantic love affair, despite his public statements about race. Those who doubt the sterling nature of Jefferson's character, however, cast things in a much more negative light, seeing him as one more predatory white slave owner and his relationship with Hemings as proof of the hypocrisy behind his eloquent statements about freedom and equality.
