Do you know the story of Daniel Smith?

[Msputiton]

He died 2 months ago. He was one of the few remaining children of freed slaves.

He speaks about the inhumanites his father often told him about from his life as a slave.

The constant fear of punishement his father told him about.

How he had to listen almost every night to the screaming and crying from other slaves who were whipped for disappointing their owners.

He talks about his father's love of America and hopefulness of his son's future. He told Daniel often to remember that him and his son are survivors because they survived the ships.

Daniel Smith then describes the brutal attacks through the sixties and 70's that he survived.

How the KKK terrorized them, how his business was burned to the ground by a group of white people, and how they then started a car chase in hopes of murdering him. Screaming at him to pull over while using racial slurs.

The only thing that saved him was finding a store full of black people to help protect him.

He talks about trying to save a white girl from drowning, but wasn't allowed to because the cop would rather the white girl die, than be saved by a black man.

He shared his story where he endured all this and yet grew up to be a successful civil rights actvist and political figure.

His message at the end was the best part of this.

He says America has come a long way in the progress of racism, but it still has a long way to go.

He says there is still too much hate in America, and we need to learn to come together as a country with love, not hate.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daniel-smith-son-of-virginia-slave-dies-age-90-lifetime-of-activism/

[Messianic_Monk]

As a minority I don't really know what else needs to happen 🤷

But I can tell you that my family were survivors of imperial Japan during WW2. My grandma is still alive but my grandad passed ages ago.

For his sake I hope he let go of his anger towards Japan... it's just too unhealthy to harbor all of that anger. But I get where he's coming from, tho. They were ruthless.

That's why I can't help but roll my eyes when people try to tell me how awful America was in WW2. I do appreciate that we hold America to a high standard in all circumstances... but these people have no idea how inhumane our opponents were. I could go for ages about the problems with imperial Japan but I don't think that's a needed discussion.

All I can say is that the nuke was almost not enough to make Japan surrender. The military was planning on kidnapping the emperor so that they could continue the war. This was after the Emperor expressed his desire to surrender after the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Fuentes]

No never knew I just knew my great Grandpa on my mom's side was a rebel but both of them were rebels I see where I got it from, my great Grandpa was a son of a slave but he died very early. But he lost his eye and had a glass eye cause he didn't get punked by nobody, he was a painter and some group of racist tried to fight him and he got down with them and they took his eye lol but he didn't go out no quiet black punk.

I know where I get the swing first mentality from whenever things would get tricky amd never cared how deep they was im swinging, people just assumed i didn't give a fuck so i never got packed & never cared about the consequences after.

See if anyone tried that shit today, Alotta people gonna have a lot of family mournings cause today if you want violence Ill condone that violence and if you wanna play force meets force best beleive there will be candle light vigils & spirtual families for all who thought they was running up lol welcome to 2023.

[Msputiton]

It's really sad when you think first he had to endure and fight through slavery.
And many former slaves who gave their stories said how excited the future would be.
They believed they were free to explore their dreams.
And reality hit them that. They were only free in name only. And laws and actions proved they planned to continue to keep them from being equals and punishment would happen for trying to be equals.

[Fuentes]

Well it's 2023 it's gonna be a cold day in hell if someone gonna tell Me I ain't equal that won't ever happen again.

[Msputiton]

Not with some repricussions that's fashoo.

[Fuentes]

They thought Malcom X was bad they gonna talk about me like they talk about the Ghost of Ukraine hahaha I'll walk into a KKK meeting like

https://youtu.be/OuTFxHM07oQ

[dustybiker]

He’s living on through shares like this. The world can still do so much better.

[Msputiton]

Amen🙏🏾
He is so inspiring

[dustybiker]

He is that.

[DizzyDesii]

Wow the cop would rather the girl die. Damn back in the day was just awful.

[Msputiton]

Yeah they actually let her die.

I shared on here before me and you knew eachother this story.

There is a man in my hometown.
He was 18 back in the 60's he was driving home and he saw a white woman having car trouble. He gave her a ride back to town.
Some white people saw him lynched him beat him. Drug him through the streets.
Peed on him and than removed his penis.

A black man speaking to a white woman is all that mattered to them

[DizzyDesii]

See thats probably why my grandpa can't let stuff like that go. He be telling a lot of stories from back then (he wasn't a slave but was born in the 40s and experienced stuff like what happened to the guy you mentioned). He is not a fan of interracially dating but i dont think he's a bad person. he's just seen some of the worse

[Msputiton]

I mean if you grew up dealing with things like that. I can see being reluctant.
I am thankful my parents and especially my grandparents weren't American. They got to miss these horrible times.

[DizzyDesii]

Yea they were lucky. Stuff still happens on occasion but nothing like back then. I know when i graduated juco and got a scholarship to ole miss, i found out around that same time that dudes were still hanging nooses on the statues over there “as a joke”. That made me so mad. Im glad i didn't end up going there despite them being like the #1 school in the state

[Msputiton]

Yeah we had 2 incidents in my town
One made national news.
2 guys dressed up in kkk outfits and went into a all black bar. And a big incident happened.

Another time a dude hung out a truck window when he drove past us holding a noose up saying watch yourself N%*ger.

I was told by a dude in hs. He is offended to have to share a school with his ancestors former pets

[DizzyDesii]

Omg see stuff like that be scaring me. I know one of my years in college was when trump one and we had to hear that cheer everyday after. Bt my professor became bold af. He said the rudest stereotyping shit to me and my classmates. He got reported by man yet is still on the board somehow. I mean he went faaaar. I dont really care what side you vote for but people still need to control certain shit they say. I wore a jersey dress one day since they were comjng back in style and he asked if i’d get all ghetto and hood and jump him after class with the homies. And it was some hispanic girl that he called something he shouldn't have. I mean he was not afraid at all. And he said more classist than racist stuff but he had no problem saying it while smiling

[Msputiton]

People so disrespectful.

Yeah i was nervous when i got accepted to a west Virginia college.
I was like oh lawd they supposed to be bad bout it too.
We had a few minor incidents here but they are surprisingly far more racially tolerant here.
It's probably got to do with the population size differences

[DizzyDesii]

Not even the pop size but the demographics of the city. Ole Miss is not in a diverse city like my uni is. Aside from that bad professor and maybe one or two rude store owners in north MS, i haven't had that many probs here. South MS is definitely more laid back. As for out of state, only Alabama has made me uncomfortable so far. We couldnt even go in mcdonalds without death stairs from the cops and guests. And not all of AL is like that but certain parts you pass through on your way to ATL is

[Msputiton]

Oh yes don't get me started on AL wit my tourneys.
Man the most ridiculous thing i ever seen was. We had a tournament.
We went to rest in the conference room as a team.
3 white girls on our team rest of us were black.
The white girls were running and screaming as they chased eachother.
The rest of us were sitting at the conference table.
One of the employees witnessed them acting out walked right pass them looked at us quietly sitting at the table.
Kicked all of us out the room for being too loud.
Didn't say anything to our white teammates who actually were being loud.

[DizzyDesii]

Ughhhh no. Lmao we gotta stop talkin bout this. Im gettin mad all over again

[Msputiton]

🤣🤣🤣i feel ya.

[RolandCuthbert]

Wow!!! My grandmother was the child of slaves. But we died long ago. We never got the chance to really learn about her experiences. It is one of the biggest regrets of my life. I spend so much time talking to my mother about her youth. I know she is tired of me asking different questions. Thank you for posting this. I had no idea about this gentleman.

[Msputiton]

Thank you for reading this and sharing about your grandmother.

See it why i feel so strongly against celebrating and idolizing anyone who fought for the confederate. Or owned slaves.
There are still people living who parent or grandparent they knew and loved who have to witness American praising people who mave actually enslaved and hurt someone they knew and loved.
It's not right at all for us to be so uncaring of others.

[RolandCuthbert]

I screwed up. It was my great grandmother. We call her “Momma Lousa”. At the time both of my grandmothers were alive. And it was confusing whenever she was in the house. But she lived to be 99 years old. And was born in the 1890s.

[Msputiton]

That is a strong woman 🥰

[standardguy]

Yes the slavery was a long and bitter time in the history of the US. "He talks about trying to save a white girl from drowning, but wasn't allowed to because the cop would rather the white girl die, than be saved by a black man." ->> That is incredibly sad how much hate and pride there was in a part of the white race. No race should look down on the other races and there should be no fight between the people of a country. Imagine that there would have been no slavery in the world. How different would be the world now!

[Msputiton]

Agree. Slave is one of the darkest part of the world's history.
To actually imprison humiliate torture, rape, and murder people like they are animals.
And too this day we excuse the actions of the slavers because they say it was normal back then.
As if bejng normal made the suffering of slaves anyless

[standardguy]

And slavery of all time was for money, money and power over others. Also in the antiquity there was slavery. For example Israel in Egypt. For Israel there was a happy end but not for the (former) slaves of the USA.

[Msputiton]

Yes i know.
It's why i said world. Not singled to US.

[exitseven]

looking at old news reels from the 60s it really was a different world. I think there was a lot of progress in the 80s and 90s. I was in basic training in Texas in 1991 and I didn't see any instances of racism, even among the guys that were from the south. My best friend was black and to me he was just another guy.

[Msputiton]

From people who lived in my town during them eras. I would agree.
Progress seemed to amp up around mid 90's

[DJB72]

I didn't know his specific story, but I've read several accounts of slavery written by former slaves, abolishonists, even slavers who repented. They all talk of the inhumane treatment of men by men.

Daniel Smith probably didn't vote for Trump. I'd hope.

But frankly if I was American I wouldn't vote democrat either. Both sides are too hypocritical in their thirst for power instead of open in their pursuit of service.

[Msputiton]

He did not vote for trump he actually feared trumps impact towards racial progression

[DJB72]

I'm not even American and I fear that!

[Msputiton]

I do believe he caused a lot of hate and set us back a lot as well.

[Wish4UrB00ty]

Wow! This is amazing! I didn't know his story but I am so glad I do now! I wonder if he finished his book before he died. It is horrible the things that people do to one another!!

[Msputiton]

And we celebrate these men as heroes with people still alive who parent or grandparent they directly knew and loved were slaves.

[Wish4UrB00ty]

I had no idea we had people alive who had parents or grandparents who were slaves. My gram lived through the depression. That’s as far back as I thought we went. But I’ve never asked her about that.

[Msputiton]

Got to think slavery ended 1865. There are very few children left. But daniel smith is the son of a slave. His father didn't have him till he was 70. His father would've been freed at the age of 3 or 4 when slavery ended.
Some slaves were just toddlers and infants when slavery ended.
So their are still some actual people living who knew family members who were slaves.
They of course not many, and they are very old now.
But yes they are still some alive.

I mean Daniel smith is literally a child of a freed slave and he died just 2 months ago.

[Msputiton]

There is someone on here who that commented how his grandmother was a freed slave

[Wish4UrB00ty]

I mean yeah we really aren't that far from it I guess. It’s just always been so far out of my brain. But I know it is a very current issue for a lot of people.

[Wish4UrB00ty]

Yeah that sounded really interesting! It seemed like he was really close to his grandmother.

[Msputiton]

Well they kinda want us to pretend it never happened. But it's not something we should ever forget

[Msputiton]

*never*

[Wish4UrB00ty]

Never never! And it is a part of who we are as a country too. It should be a past part but still new trees grow out of stumps.

[Msputiton]

Exactly it is important to know and understand the entirety of the impacts so we can grow past it.

[Reece12345]

I agree. We've come a long way but we have a long way to go.

And I hope we don't go backward now.

[Msputiton]

Same.

[SnowedIn]

I did not know this story. Thank you for sharing.

[Msputiton]

You're welcome

[Pudsmucker]

It is sad that our country treated the black people so badly.

[Sasahara]

Had not heard about him until I read your question.

[Jennz6]

That’s so sad, thanks for sharing

[Msputiton]

You're welcome.
It is a sad beginning with a beautiful ending

[Jennz6]

I agree with you

[linka_pat307]

Never knew him

[Preeti161101]

Nope