#OnThisDay November 15, 1950 Arthur "Art" Dorrington became the first Black person to play professional hocket in the US when he signed with the Atlantic City Seagulls.
Mr. Dorrington was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, and rose onto the Rangers’ radar thanks to his high-scoring ability. He signed his pro contract the same year the NBA welcomed its first Black players. He tallied 163 goals and 157 assists in 345 EHL, EAHL and IHL games.
Dorrington played for the Atlantic City Sea Gulls, Johnstown Jets, Washington Lions and Philadelphia Ramblers after moving around the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL) and International Hockey League (IHL).
He was drafted into the Army in 1956 and spent 22 months overseas before briefly returning to hockey. A broken leg ended his career. He never got called up to the Rangers. The NHL wouldn’t see its first Bllack player until Boston Bruins forward Willie O’Ree in 1958.
Mr. Dorrington joined the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office after retiring from hockey. In 1998, he and his wife founded a nonprofit program, Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation, that provides low-income children the opportunity to learn life skills through hockey.
For every hour the youths were on the ice, they spent an hour in the classroom. Dorrington’s mantra was “On the Ice – Off the Streets.” The Dorringtons’ foundation received the support of the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone.”
Mr. Dorrington died on December 29, 2017, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
#OnThisDay November 16, 1972 Denver A. Smith and Leonard D. Brown were killed by the Baton Rouge, LA police during a demonstration on the campus of Southern University.
Don't know about this murder on the campus of Southern?
South Carolina State University, in 1970, was the first college campus in which the National Guard was used to quell a demonstration resulted in death. Murdered were Samuel Hammond Jr., 18, Henry Smith, 18 and Delano Middleton, 17.
Before Southern University, a little background on the SCSU Orangeburg massacre. Despite being the first deadly confrontation between university students and law enforcement in United States history, the Orangeburg Massacre is a rarely remembered tragedy.
The least common denominator in the trial of alleged murderers Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr., and Kyle Rittenhouse?
THE POWER OF THE BALLOT.
THE POWER OF YOUR VOTE.
Juries are selected from the rolls of people who are REGISTERED TO VOTE.
So if you're not registered to vote?
You don't get selected to serve on grand juries or jury trials.
In Wisconsin, judges who sit on the state Supreme Court, State Court of Appeals and Circuit Courts serve 10, six and six year terms after winning an election. Bruce Schroeder, the judge in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse? Ran for relection in 2008, 2014 + 2020.
When I was a young Hill staffer with Rep. Mickey Leland, we attended an event at Howard University. Remember, now this was in 1989, before cell phones etc. We were with the always tall, handsome and impeccable Rep. Ron Dellums. A reporter came up to them.
"What do you think about what the CBC Chairman said, Congressman Dellums?"
"Oh I agree with him 100%. Thank you for your question."
Mickey and I are looking at each other. Mickey asked Ron, "what did the CBC Chairman say?"
"I don't know and I don't need to know."
"This is a lesson I learned from Malcolm X. 'If some reporter runs up to you and asks you, brother, what do you think about what Malcolm said, they're not asking because they want you to say 'AMEN'!"
"Unless I find out otherwise? I will ALWAYS support my CBC Chair."
#OnThisDay November 9, 1922 Legendary actress and civil rights activist Dorothy Dandridge was born in Cleveland, OH. She was the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar for best actress and a Golden Globe award.
I think I saw her classic movie, "Carmen Jones," when I was seven or eight years old. I didn't even like musicals, much less women or girls at that point in time. That whole picture changed for me when I was two Black women - Dorothy Dandridge and Nichelle Nichols!🤩😍
Dorothy and her slightly older sister Vivian were called “The Wonder Children” when their mother, Ruby Dandridge, a former entertainer, launched them into show business as young children. They sang in Black churches around the country during the Great Depression.
Mr. Turner wasn't the first African American who organized a rebellion for his freedom. In 1830, Gabriel Prosser organized over 1K armed men for an insurrection. His plot failed when two enslaved men told whites about the plan. Prosser was executed.
In the wake of Prosser's unsuccessful rebellion, it was illegal to teach Black people how to read, meet in groups (except to go to church), pilot a ship or boat, leave the state without written, explicit permission and others.
When you hear "progressives" saying the $1.2T Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Deal's nothing but "crumbs" for the people? I mean, aside from saying $1.2T are crumbs, it's factually incorrect.
Let's take a look at Congress and a few of its recent infrastructure bills!
THREAD
The US highway system was a mismash of state and occasional federal goernment building them. The grand daddy of them all is the 1956 Highway Act, signed into law by President Eisenhower. Among other things? If you agreed to a highway, the feds would pay for 90% of it.
Remember, this was the post WWII generation. Meaning there was a lot of "white flight" from cities to suburbs. Black people, who wanted to move there like my grand dad after WWII? Thanks to redlining and discrimination, he couldn't even get a loan. Like most Black people.