- Dec 18, 2014
- 250
- 62
Sundowns the towns, cities and hamlets thousands of them scattered across the American continent.
Up until the 1970's all of them posted signs along their roadways warning blacks and other minority
groups not to be caught inside their town and city limits after the sun went down. To disregard their warning could be dangerous or deadly.
This was white hate at it's worst.
Yes all of these signs have been removed from sight. But the psychological spirit of sundown towns still live. James Loewen
In his opening chapter he wrote about a city he was in doing research for his future book "Sundown Towns. The city was Anna Illinois and according to a white who resided there at the time, the name Anna stood for
"Ain't No ******* Allowed." He wrote about how as recent as the early 2000's how high school sports teams were harassed by the town's citizens whenever they were in town playing against
a white school because their presence was not welcomed by the racist whites.
You would think fifty years after the civil rights era the sun down cities residents would have evolved to a higher
and broader view of blacks. But apparently they haven't. People may say well, maybe it's all
myths and legends and the residents aren't really that bad, maybe they aren't that racist, to the point they demand
blacks to vacate Anna's street and be out of town before the sun sets.
I met a white lady about 2 years ago who confirmed that Anna Illinois is still a "sundown town" in spirit and action. She was talking about her son who is a minister and he is married
to an African American women. She talked about the problems this couple faced as an inter-racial pair.
She spoke of how he complained about that "god awful" city Anna Illinois and that he and his wife didn't live far from there. Then she told how her son told about an incident that had recently
occurred involving a black utility linesman who was in Anna working. Her son told her that a
group of white men swarmed this utility man and told him he better be out of the city by sunset.
Now I ask, shouldn't sundown towns be talked about more? How often is this type of racist activity taking place in these little towns and cities across America? How many more black
people who innocently wander into these places are asked to leave before the sun goes down? and lastly is it safe for
black families to travel through all white these towns cities and hamlets?
Do you think we need someone to research and provide a safety guide for black people before they travel across
America like the one that was published over 60 years ago. if racist whites are approaching blacks in Anna Illinois and telling them to leave before dark, how many more white sundown towns citizens are harassing African Americans and it goes unnoticed, because it's not publicly reported?
Think, think real deep about it
Up until the 1970's all of them posted signs along their roadways warning blacks and other minority
groups not to be caught inside their town and city limits after the sun went down. To disregard their warning could be dangerous or deadly.
This was white hate at it's worst.
Yes all of these signs have been removed from sight. But the psychological spirit of sundown towns still live. James Loewen
In his opening chapter he wrote about a city he was in doing research for his future book "Sundown Towns. The city was Anna Illinois and according to a white who resided there at the time, the name Anna stood for
"Ain't No ******* Allowed." He wrote about how as recent as the early 2000's how high school sports teams were harassed by the town's citizens whenever they were in town playing against
a white school because their presence was not welcomed by the racist whites.
You would think fifty years after the civil rights era the sun down cities residents would have evolved to a higher
and broader view of blacks. But apparently they haven't. People may say well, maybe it's all
myths and legends and the residents aren't really that bad, maybe they aren't that racist, to the point they demand
blacks to vacate Anna's street and be out of town before the sun sets.
I met a white lady about 2 years ago who confirmed that Anna Illinois is still a "sundown town" in spirit and action. She was talking about her son who is a minister and he is married
to an African American women. She talked about the problems this couple faced as an inter-racial pair.
She spoke of how he complained about that "god awful" city Anna Illinois and that he and his wife didn't live far from there. Then she told how her son told about an incident that had recently
occurred involving a black utility linesman who was in Anna working. Her son told her that a
group of white men swarmed this utility man and told him he better be out of the city by sunset.
Now I ask, shouldn't sundown towns be talked about more? How often is this type of racist activity taking place in these little towns and cities across America? How many more black
people who innocently wander into these places are asked to leave before the sun goes down? and lastly is it safe for
black families to travel through all white these towns cities and hamlets?
Do you think we need someone to research and provide a safety guide for black people before they travel across
America like the one that was published over 60 years ago. if racist whites are approaching blacks in Anna Illinois and telling them to leave before dark, how many more white sundown towns citizens are harassing African Americans and it goes unnoticed, because it's not publicly reported?
Think, think real deep about it
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