VOTE

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VOTE.

Dr. Michael Osterholm said on “Meet the Press,  COVID-19 will rage “like a forest fire” in the U.S. Trump has no clear plan to deal with it, and has regressed to a dismissive, “pre-pandemic” attitude. “I don’t think that this is going to slow down. Wherever there is wood to burn, this fire is going to burn.  I think we’re going to just see one very, very difficult forest fire of cases.”

Trump has surrendered to COVID-19 with no sane plan.

The Biden Harris ticket have a seven point plan,

  • Testing as many people per day as are currently tested per week by doubling the number of testing sites in the U.S.; investing in rapid and at-home tests; creating a Pandemic Testing Board to oversee test production; and building out a 100,000-person national contact tracing workforce that would collaborate with community groups.
  • Ramping up production of personal protective equipment like masks and face shields.
  • Working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce clear guidance for businesses, schools and other facilities trying to reopen, accompanied by government funding for businesses, schools and state and local governments.
  • Creating (and investing $25 billion in) a vaccine production-and-distribution plan that ensures free and equitable access, while allowing scientists to clearly communicate progress with the public.
  • Protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly and people of color, including through a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force, and publishing a real-time data dashboard that provides local information about the outbreak.
  • Restoring the White House office responsible for monitoring global health risks, which Trump disbanded in its original form in 2018, and rejoining the World Health Organization, among other efforts to strengthen the U.S.’ global health response.
  • Encouraging universal masking by urging governors and local lawmakers to enforce mandates.

VOTE.

Yesterday, This Was Home: the Ocoee Massacre of 1920

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Today marks exactly 100 years since the Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.  The Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) has spent three years researching and designing an exhibit about this horrific event.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

The following information is taken from the Orange County Regional History Center’s most recent exhibition, Yesterday, This Was Home: the Ocoee Massacre of 1920. For 100 years, the story of the Ocoee Massacre has gone largely untold. It has been subject to intentional obfuscation, lies, misunderstandings, and sensationalism. Memories and perspectives vary, and there are very few reliable source documents to confirm what is factual. If all hearsay, conjecture, conflicting, or contested information is removed, and you only include what most accounts mutually agree upon or what is included in primary source documents, the story is only a few paragraphs long. Though it is missing much nuance and details, this is what can be factually said.

On November 2, 1920, Moses Norman, a Black labor broker, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee, Florida. He was turned away and not allowed to cast his ballot. Later, a group of armed white men came to the home of Norman’s friend, July Perry, another Black labor broker in Ocoee, and violence ensued. Shots rang out and fires were started. Black residents were forced to flee from their homes.

Badly injured by bullet wounds, July Perry was captured by some of the armed men and taken into custody. After receiving medical attention, he was left in a cell at the Orange County Jail in downtown Orlando. According to a State of Florida Coroner’s Inquest that took place on November 3 and 4, 1920, an unidentified white mob overpowered the jailer, taking Perry from his cell.

The lynch mob brutalized Perry, and by November 3, had hanged his body in public view. His body was later moved to Greenwood Cemetery and buried. Moses Norman fled; he was eventually recorded living in New York City. Two men from the white mob were shot and killed, Leo Borgard and Elmer McDaniels, for which Carey Hand Undertaker’s Memorandum exist. Able-bodied ex-servicemen were called from across the region to come to Ocoee and create a perimeter to make sure the event did not continue, also blocking Black residents from returning to their homes. An unknown number of Black people were killed that night and others injured. Three unidentified Black individuals were recorded as being buried in one grave in a Carey Hand Undertaker’s Memorandum.

That night, many Black residents fled Ocoee, never to return. Some stayed but were eventually driven out by the terror of that night as well as subsequent violence over the following years, including dynamite being thrown into their homes and individuals being beaten and threatened. After 1926, there would not be another recorded Black person to reside or own land for any length of time in Ocoee until at least the mid- to late-1970s.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

On the day I went in to sketch, only one couple was in the exhibit space at the same time as me. There as some hand sanitizer at the beginning of the exhibit and I went back to use it each time I used any of the interactive displays.

At the end of the exhibit you can see the animated oral histories I worked on. The screen needs to be touched to play each animated short so be sure to sanitize your hands after you watch. I am glad I went this in an exhibit which is so timely. Today people marching to vote in North Carolina were pepper sprayed and arrested. This isn’t quite as bad as the Ocoee massacre but voter suppression is not a thing of the past.

Stranded

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Hundreds of Trump supporters were left stranded in the cold after a Trump rally at Eppley Airfield in Omaha Nebraska. After Air Force One took off, the nightmare had just begun for many. Parking for the rally was four miles away and people had to wait for hours hoping buses would get them back to the lots. Many started walking to their cars further clogging the roads. The Trump campaign said “local road closures and resulting congestion caused delays.” No campaign staff were on site to help with the chaotic scene that unfolded.

An Omaha police officer shook his head and said, “We need at least 30 more buses.” Police assisted in giving the elderly and infirm rides to their cars. According to preliminary reports from that night, 30 people were contacted by emergency personnel for medical reasons and seven were transported to hospitals “with a variety of medical conditions.” News reports indicated that temperature, with wind chill, dropped into the 20s. Seven people were hospitalized for hypothermia.

A post on Instagram summed up the situation neatly, “I see people wearing coats and hats. I did my own research and found out that only 1500 people die of hypothermia in the US each year. That’s only 0.0005% of the population. The rally goers fear something that 99.9995% of people won’t die from. Many who died from hypothermia were wearing coats and hats, and they still died! Coats don’t work.” It seems strange that so many at the Omaha Rally did not have masks to help keep their face warm.

In another extreme, a dozen people from a Trump Rally in Tampa Florida were taken to a hospital possibly due to heat exhaustion, On person fainted and another had a seizure. The other 10 who were taken to the hospital were listed as “sick” with no other details.

More important is the fact that Trump Rally’s leave infectious spikes in their wake. Donny is acting like Johnnie Appleseed spreading the virus all over the country. A CNN investigation found that 82% of Trump Rally sites had an increased rate of new Covid-19 cases one month after the rally. In 10 counties, the new rates of infection were growing faster than the overall rate for the state. After the September 18 Trump rally in Bemidji, Minnesota the infection rate jumped by more than 385%.

Over 91.000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday October 29, 2020 which is the highest number of new cases in a single day since the pandemic began. To say Trump is acting irresponsibly is a massive understatement. New studies have found that if this pandemic remains unchecked then more than 400,000 could be dead by February 1, 2021. Unlike the two previous waves, the virus is now affecting every corner of the country.

A Stanford study has found that Trump rally’s have been linked to 30,000 cases and over 700 deaths. Trump has become very effective a killing off his base.

The Great Pumpkin

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Linus of Charles Schultz, Peanuts fame, described The Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children. In the age of the pandemic however the Great Pumpkin has become a menacing figure of chaos intent on world domination.

In India, one police officer found a creative way to get the message across. Rajesh Babu, a police officer in the southern city of Chennai, wears a specially constructed coronavirus helmet while stopping vehicles and pedestrians at checkpoints. He also created a shield and COVID mace making him look a bit like a medieval knight capable of vanquishing a dragon.

The CDC offered guidance on how to celebrate Halloween safely in  pandemic…

“Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses. There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween. If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.”

These LOW RISK ACTIVITIES can be safe alternatives:

  • Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
  • Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends
  • Decorating your house, apartment, or living space
  • Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance
  • Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
  • Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
  • Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house

Avoid these HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19:

  • Participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door
  • Having trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from trunks of cars lined up in large parking lots
  • Attending crowded costume parties held indoors
  • Going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming
  • Going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
  • Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgement and increase risky behaviors
  • Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community if you live in an area with community spread of COVID-19

 

Emmett Till

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After refusing to move to the back of the Greyhound bus, Sam’s fears were heightened as he recalled that this bus trip was shortly after after Emmett Louis Till had been violently lynched. Emmitt was a 14-year-old African American who was kidnapped, tortured, and murder in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman, in her family’s grocery store. The Clarion Ledger reported that, Donham, who is 86-year-old has since admitted that she lied. She had testified in court that Till had grabbed her around the waist and uttered obscenities.

In 2008, Timothy Tyson interviewed Carolyn and before he had his recorder set up she muttered,  “That pt wasn’t true. … 50 yrs ago. I just don’t remember. … Nothing that boy ever did could justify what happened to him.” He quickly jotted down her quote in a note book.

Photos of Emmett show an upstanding young boy, but the photos of him after the lynching show an inexcusable violence. Emmett’s mom, Mamie Till Mobley made a bold decision to hold an open casket funeral and thousands attended. I did a negative painting of his mom collapsing and being held up during the funeral.

Mamie became an outspoken activist, seeking justice for her son. She gave speeches across the country. And soon, letters poured into the White House. African Americans throughout the country were angered by the injustice of what happened to Emmett Till and her suffering. her activism helped spark the civil rights movement.

The Department of Justice announced in July of 2018 that they were reopening the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till due to new information received. Since then, the Justice Department has remained silent.

Yesterday This Was Home: Surprised Driver

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The driver looks surprised and then turns and walks away. This is from the final animation. The drivers badge and shirt is pure white and his tie and the head band on his hat are pure black. That high contrast makes it so a viewer is likely to look at his badge which makes him look like a police officer although he is just the bus driver. hen you are wearing a  badge it makes it tempting to expert authority.

When the driver walked away Sam got really scared, thinking he might be going to get reinforcements.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yodel

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In late September, 2020 a yodeling competition in the rural Schwyz Canton, Switzerland became a super spreader event. The 600 people in the audience were asked to maintain social distancing, but mask-wearing was not required. Nine days after the performances, it was discovered that several yodelers were infected.

The pandemic has now spread through the region. Before the Yodeling Competition there were  just 500 cases in mid-September. On October 23, 2020 there were 6634 cases in one day, which is a major spike for this small rural area.

The overloaded Cantonal hospital has asked people to begin wearing masks and avoiding gatherings. The explosion in the number of cases in Schwyz is one of the worst in all of Europe,” chief doctor Reto Nueesch posted online. Wearing a mask has become compulsory at all public and private events with more than 50 people and in situations where distancing can’t be maintained. It is still possible to go to any shops without wearing a mask.

Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga said, “It is five minutes to midnight,” She urged everyone in the country to take precautions.

 

Yesterday This Was Home: Pleeeese!

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“Well I got these white people getting on would you Pleeeeese move?” There is a level of comic desperation in the request.

Animating this scene was fun, being based on the narration, but remodeled into the driver. This is the storyboard and thus not the final design of the driver. In the end he was designed with a chiseled look that was based on a stop sign. His nose, ears and even eyes were designed to look like the octagons of a stop sign. The hand gesture was picked up from a later section of the Zoom interview, but it worked to use the hand gesture to accentuate the word, “Pleeese.” The fact that Sam can laugh about the drivers plight at the time shows his strength of character.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

 

Yesterday This Was Home: I Was Scared

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After pointing out his rights to the driver, Sam felt scared. I cut to an extreme close up that quickly cross dissolved into a negative inverted image of his eyes. As he lamented that Jacksonville was like Mississippi in 1957, I flashed painting being created as negatives. All flash backs of racism of the times was done as these negative images where black is white and white is black.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history. Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

It Is What It Is

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Trump has not been to a Coronavirus Task Force meeting in months. Simply put he doesn’t give a damn how many people die. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no experience with infectious diseases, has caught the presidents ear and he is a yes man, telling the president what he wants to hear.

Atlas, put out a Tweet that claimed that widespread use of face masks does not help slow the spread of COVID-19. Twitter had to remove the tweet for spreading false and misleading information. Atlas frequently clashes with other members of the White House Coronavirus task force. Last month, an NBC News reporter overheard CDC Director Robert Redfield saying on a phone call: “Everything he says is false.” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) recommends people wear masks in public settings and when around people who don’t live in their household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

Atlas has rejected the need for widespread community testing, arguing that the administration should focus almost exclusively on protecting and testing elderly populations while pushing for the rest of the economy to return to normal, this official said. “Everything he says and does points toward herd immunity,” a senior administration official said. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have warned that the “herd immunity” approach is dangerous.

The My Pillow Guy caught the presidents ear and was promoting an unproven treatment for COVID-19. He proclaimed the President was “enthusiastic” about the unproven therapeutic. Many reports have focused on its considerable toxicity, which has led to accidental — and sometimes deliberate poisonings, including for suicide. It has also poisoned animals. The US Army Institute of Infectious Diseases conducted tests on the drug’s effect on Covid-19, which were halted due to “inconclusive” results.

The White House has been a hot spot for the virus having more cases than all of New York State. Trump who recovered from COVID-19 has not embraced simple safety measures instead he is holding super spreader rallies all across the country, effectively spreading the disease. Trump believes that if you put your head in the sand it will all go away. His incompetence continues to cause needless deaths, it is what it is.

In White House coronavirus task force reports obtained by CNN this week, officials say there are “early signs of deterioration in the Sun Belt and continued deterioration in the Midwest and across the Northern States.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got this report just prior to Trump holding a super spreader rally in Sanford Florida but the governor tried to hide the report claim all is well. He also wants to stop sharing the daily numbers from testing just as the worst is about to begin.

The United States just reported its highest spike in new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began with more than 83,000 new cases on Friday October 23, 2020.  Hospitalizations and daily death tolls are rising across the country, with experts warning that the worst is yet to come. In a few weeks, deaths will start to increase. It is a pattern that repeats itself with each new ave of the virus with no plan to stop the spread. 224,000 Americans have died so far from COVID-19.