Everette "Bert" Moore (1940 - 2023)

Uncle Bert was a true "Old Salt." He ended his career with more of those diagonal "Hash Marks" at the bottom of his sleeve than in this photo. Each one represents another 4 year "hitch". He had about 7 that I know of.

And the red, rather than gold color, means that he wasn't a "yes" man. He followed his own heart and mind, doing what he thought was right.

The rank insignia indicates a Hull Technician and Damage Control rating. The arch at the top indicates a full Chief Petty Officer.

I believe later photos showed a double arch at the top, which indicated  a Master Chief Petty Officer. If it could be kept afloat, he was the man who could do it.

His ribbons indicate his accomplishments as the veteran of Vietnam era service. And his eyes reflect all that he had seen up until that point in his career. They only got sharper and wiser in his later career in the reserves, as he saw, and learned, even more.

He was a quiet man, but one with deep thoughts and convictions. He kept his own council. And I don't think you can say more about most other men. May he rest well and sail on into his new voyage, with fair winds and a star to guide his way.

1940 - 2023
April 24th, 2023

"The Vertical Negro Plan" by Harry Golden (1958)

 

Harry Golden was an American-Jewish journalist who self published "The Carolina Israelite" in Charlotte, N.C. during the years preceding the iconic lunch counter demonstrations.

That he did so in a state which has been named "Klansville, USA" due to its having 100 counties, each of which was home to a KKK Klavern, is a testimony to his  wit and candor.

This short piece, published in 1956 and then included in his 1958 compilation "Only in America", is an example of his influence on the Civil Rights Movement. As a Jew he saw the racial struggle of African-Americans as inextricably linked to Anti-Semitism.

Twice dynamited in his residence in Charlotte, which also served as home to his self published newspaper, he survived the tumultuous years of the struggle for racial equality. He died peacefully at home in 1981, respected in both the North and South for his  stand against bigotry.

A few days ago I posted his essay on "The Merchant of Venice" titled "Teaching Shylock."  Not many took the time to read it. It is brilliant in its insight. Here is his much shorter "Vertical Negro Plan."

........................................

"One of the factors involved in North Carolina’s tremendous industrial growth and economic prosperity is the fact that the South, voluntarily, has all but eliminated VERTICAL SEGREGATION. The tremendous buying power of the twelve million Negroes in the South has been based wholly on the absence of racial segregation. The white and Negro stand at the same grocery and supermarket counters; deposit money at the same bank teller’s window; pay phone and light bills to the same clerk; walk through the same dime and department stores, and stand at the same drugstore counters.

It is only when the Negro “sets” that the fur begins to fly.

Now, since we are not even thinking about restoring VERTICAL SEGREGATION, I think my plan would not only comply with the Supreme Court decision, but would maintain “sitting-down” segregation. Now here is the GOLDEN VERTICAL NEGRO PLAN. Instead of all those complicated proposals, all the next [state Legislature] session needs to do is pass one small amendment which would provide only desks in all the public schools of our state — no seats.

The desks should be those standing-up jobs, like the old fashioned bookkeeping desk. Since no one in the South pays the slightest attention to a VERTICAL NEGRO, this will completely solve our problem. And it is not such a terrible inconvenience for young people to stand up during their classroom studies. In fact, this may be a blessing in disguise. They are not learning to read sitting down, anyway; maybe standing up will help. This will save more millions of dollars in the cost of our remedial English course when the kids enter college. In whatever direction you look with the GOLDEN VERTICAL NEGRO PLAN, you save millions of dollars, to say nothing of eliminating forever any danger to our public education system upon which rests the destiny, hopes, and happiness of this society."

Golden, Harry. Only In America, World Publishing Company, Cleveland and NY: 1958, p. 121-122.

"We and They" by Rudyard Kipling

 

Father and Mother, and Me,
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And every one else is They.
And They live over the sea,
While We live over the way,
But-would you believe it? --They look upon We
As only a sort of They!

We eat pork and beef
With cow-horn-handled knives.
They who gobble Their rice off a leaf,
Are horrified out of Their lives;
While they who live up a tree,
And feast on grubs and clay,
(Isn't it scandalous? ) look upon We
As a simply disgusting They!

We shoot birds with a gun.
They stick lions with spears.
Their full-dress is un-.
We dress up to Our ears.
They like Their friends for tea.
We like Our friends to stay;
And, after all that, They look upon We
As an utterly ignorant They!

We eat kitcheny food.
We have doors that latch.
They drink milk or blood,
Under an open thatch.
We have Doctors to fee.
They have Wizards to pay.
And (impudent heathen!) They look upon We
As a quite impossible They!

All good people agree,
And all good people say,
All nice people, like Us, are We
And every one else is They:
But if you cross over the sea,
Instead of over the way,
You may end by (think of it!) looking on We
As only a sort of They!