Michael Harriot Profile picture
Nov 27, 2022 21 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Stephen A. Smith might be right. Maybe it's wrong to judge Jerry Jones for something that happened 65 years ago. Maybe he was just "curious." How could anyone know?

A thread.
he discussion centers around this photograph, taken on Sept. 9, 1957, when white students tried to prevent six Black students from integrating North Little Rock High School.

One of those white students is Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
It worked.

They actually turned the Black students away. The North Little Rock School District would not integrate until 1964.

And Jerry Jones was right in the middle of it all.
To be fair, Jerry Jones was a sophomore in high school. And, according to the Washington Post, he said:

“I don’t know that I or anybody anticipated or had a background of knowing … what was involved. It was more a curious thing.”

washingtonpost.com/sports/interac…
So even though some people ALWAYS find a way to contort themselves in a way that lands on the side of the powerful white establishment, maybe Smith is right about this one. Maybe Jones didn't know what was going to happen.

How could he have known?
If Jerry Jones, a high school football player, didn't know, it meant he wasn't listening when his COACH warned the team that there would be trouble.

Wait... Didn't he tell the post that he had heard?
Maybe he had no clue that people in his community were planning to use violence and the threat of violence to preserve white supremacy. Maybe he didn't communicate with a lot of his neighbors

Oh, wait...
It would also mean that Jones had no idea that his school was even planning to desegregate. After all, this happened on Sept. 9. What was the biggest story in Arkansas at the time?

No... What was the biggest story in AMERICA?
But hindsight is 20/20. What were people saying at the time? Who prevented those students from integrating NLRHS?

According to every report I could find, the Black students were confronted by 10 white students in front of the school.

But that's not what turned them around
The top of the stairs
You know what? Maybe I'm making this up.

Maybe we should ask someone who was there, like Richard Lindsey, one of the North Little Rock Six
Apparently, not only did Jones not see the national, local and state newspapers, we are supposed to believe that EVERY STUDENT THERE knew what was going on except Jerry Jones.

Yet, for some reason, Jones decided to go...

To the TOP OF THE STAIRS
So what happened at the top of the stairs?
But here's my beef with this entire conversation and white supremacy in general.

Forget about all those racist students and their parents and the cops and the school administrators or the government.

What if Jerry Jones wasn't a violent segregationist?
What if he really didn't want his classmates spitting on Black kids & using the n-word? What if he wanted to attend an integrated school? NO ONE expects teenage Jerry Jones to stand up to a mob by himself, but ask yourself this?

Why are the "good white people" never around?
Why is it always Black people vs ALL the white people?

Why weren't there 25 or 10 or 6 white kids out there standing for what's right?

Why weren't a dozen white parents out there?

Why can't news reporters find them?

Why aren't they on the police force or the school board?
THAT IS THE POINT.

The point is not that Jerry Jones was a violent segregationist. The point is that he can watch something like this and never MENTION IT FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. The point is not that Jones has never hired a Black head coach...
It's about how people can rationalize racism with fantastical excuses that have no basis in logic or reality.

Jones not knowing what was going on that day is as unbelievable as the CEO of a company with an 80% Black workforce saying: "I can't find a qualified shift leader"
And the crazy thing is, PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE IT.

But maybe I'm one of those CRT people who distort history by applying today's standards to the past.

Instead of listening to me or the guy who was actually there, let's see how newspapers back then described what happened.
But this isn't about 1 day 65 years ago.

It's about NOW. It's about WHY this inequality persists.
But I truly understand why some people ALWAYS seem to land on the side of defending whiteness: I even understand WHY some people will stand and watch and do nothing.
We are all just trying to reach the top of the stairs.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michael Harriot

Michael Harriot Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @michaelharriot

Dec 2
For five years, I have been covering what is unquestionably the biggest criminal justice scandal in American history.

Today it ended when the most corrupt cop in history took his life.

But it's not over.

A thread.
For 5 decades, police officer Roger Golubski sexually assaulted Black women and forced to give false testimony that he used to send Black men to prison while he ran a sex trafficking and drug cartel in Kansas City Kansas

theroot.com/a-criminal-inj…
The federal trial against Golubski was supposed to begin today.

He didn't show up

According to sources, Golubski ended his own life

kansascity.com/news/local/art…
Read 18 tweets
Nov 27
Before everyone leaves this app, I want to make a confession

I'm planning a robbery

I already have a target, a crew & a blueprint, I just need 1 more thing:

Will you help me recreate the greatest Black on Black crime in US history?

A story
An announcement
A (final) thread
On Thursday, May 23, 1861, Frank Baker, James Townsend, and Shepard Mallory orchestrated the greatest heist in American history.

Less than 6 weeks after the start of the Civil War, the enslaved men were essentially donated to the Virginia Confederate Militia to dig ditches
As they worked near the exact same spot where "20& Odd" Africans arrived 1619, the men spotted a boat.

Of course they skedaddled. Scrammed. Vamoosed. They ran like Josh Hawley in an insurrection, crossed the river and presented themselves to Union Gen, George Butler
Read 31 tweets
Nov 5
People who say this election could be the "end of democracy" are so extra...

Or maybe they know the TRUE history of the election-denying white supremacist who led a violent insurrection, overturned a presidential election and ended democracy in America.

A thread
First, you should know that the US Constitution created a form of govt called a "federal republic" where elected officials represent the citizens (as opposed to a DIRECT DEMOCRACY, where people vote on every decision)

But a representative democracy is just A KIND OF DEMOCRACY Image
Image
Saying, "America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy," is like saying: "I'm a MAGA Republican, not an American."

BTW, this is your daily reminder that @laurenboebert is a pro-insurrection MAGA Republican HS dropout who failed the GED 3x... NOT an American. Image
Read 30 tweets
Oct 30
My uncle’s friend Hawk was a feared gangsta. He was ruthless but he was also a chess wizard. According to the streets, Hawk only lost 1 once, years ago, when he was in prison.

So imagine my surprise when my uncle told Hawk: “l bet $100 my nephew will kick your ass

A thread
Now I was like 12 or 13, so even though I was a chess prodigy, I was scared AF

What if I put Hawk in check and he slit my throat ? What if he sicced his goons on me to keep his streak alive? I hadn’t even reached goon-fighting age!

Then my uncle made a deal:
If I beat Hawk, I could keep the money.

A whole $100 dollars? Oh, hell yeah! I was down.

There was just one other problem with my uncle’s plan.

I had never actually played a chess match.

Not one.
Read 15 tweets
Oct 17
One of my former economics students recently reminded me about a concept I used to call "belief economics."

I haven't taught the course it in a long time, but ever since she reminded me, it perfectly explains why everyone is so focused on Black male Trump voters

A thread:
My "Race as an Economic Construct" class applied economic principles as a framework for understanding the concept of race.

I know you've heard that race is an SOCIAL CONTRUCT - it is. But MOST social constructs are ALSO economic constructs.

Even money.
A $100 bill is more valuable than monopoly money bc society constructed a monetary system. Take the pseudointellectual right-wing conspiracy about the gold standard

Why is gold so valuable?

Sure it's rare. But it's not as rare as rhodium or as useful as iron.
Read 29 tweets
Oct 2
While other organizations (hopefully, maybe) will be fact-checking, JD Vance & Tim Walz, as usual, I’ll be translating the dog whistles, white lies and overall Caucasity

The live vice presidential debate “BlackCheck”
JD Vance begins by blaming the “Kamala Harris Administration” for Iran’s nuclear progress.

When was that?Image
Apparently, Kamala Harris has done a LOT. She held a seminar in Iran on how to build nukes

She opened a fentanyl shipping company

She helped organize a human trafficking ring

Somehow, as VP, she passed executive orders to renam the whole South: “Kamala Harris’s open border”
Read 13 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(