Marian's Blog

Chocolate City, a film on Washington, DC and gentrification

In recognition of our colonised status, people around the world can help by taking a symbolic break from even uttering the words "Washington" and "Washington, DC." Leave our name out of conversation and put a blank space in print. Besides the general public, those encouraged to promote, observe and abide by the boycott should include bloggers, teachers and professors, clergymembers, tourists and tour guides, travel agents, economists, journalists, scientists, activists and politicians. To do so will send a powerful message in contrast to the real lack of power of our city's mostly Black and mostly Black women residents. Washington, the city, always has been about far more than national and international politics and tourism.

(In Washington, an image of DC native son the late Marvin Gaye shows up only in a vodka advert. U.S. Capitol with "don't walk" sign. Photos property Marian's Blog)

In fact, DC's reality remains hidden: a majority-Black American city with a buried yet deeply rooted history (and identity) as the former capital of the U.S. interstate slave trade. People live here, and for many years the majority of Washington's citizens have been Black Americans; or at least we have been the vast majority until the very recent past. Washington as a majority Black city has always been subjugated and segregated. We have been and are under attack. In spite of the presence of international organizations and the embassies of nations around the world, little news of the real DC and our status seems to get out, even and especially among journalists. Along comes a film to break the silence: CHOCOLATE CITY, a documentary by filmmakers Ellie Walton and Sam Wild. Just as they would have bought Black Americans' ancestors as slaves, property developers have bought my town and the local population is being forced out using means that are mostly foul. CC focuses on the displacement and dispersal of the community of 400 families who lived in public housing called Arthur Capper Homes. The film has two de facto "stars", Arthur Capper resident Debra Frazier and Anu Yadav, a performance artist of South Asian origin. The two form unlikely yet complementary poles in the moving narrative. A quickly built official website for Chocolate City is down now seems to be back up after having received so many hits it temporarily exceeded its bandwidth. I'm also pointing readers to Jennifer Tchinnosian's 6 Feb 2008 review in George Washington University's student paper, the Daily Colonial, a name which is wholly a propos.

Martin L. King III's sober, inspiring "Poverty in America", from 14-15 Nov on American Life TV

Whatever else Martin King III may need for his new venture, you have to give him credit him for excellent timing. King has announced he is ready to take up his father's fight against poverty. No one else with a stature that approaches his and that of his family is doing anything as ambitious or potentially far-reaching. The elder son of Martin and Coretta Scott King has produced a powerful documentary, in which he travels the USA to carry on his parents' legacy. On Wednesday, 24 October, King's foundation, Realizing the Dream, and Baby Boomer-oriented American Life TV put on an impeccable premiere for King's new documentary, Poverty in America. Also taking part in the film's Wednesday evening premiere was American Life TV journalist (and Kentucky native), Nick Clooney. Clooney is better known to some as the brother of the inimitable vocalist Rosemary, and father to actor George. King reminded premiere guests that 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of the historic yet nearly still-born Poor People's Campaign. Martin L. King, Jr. begun that Campaign, giving his life virtually on its maiden voyage. In the first week of April 1968 King, Jr. and scores of others committed to the Civil Rights Movement went to Memphis, in west Tennessee, to support that city's striking sanitation (aka "garbage") workers. With Dr. King's world-changing assassination the Poor People's Campaign not only began in Memphis, it was pretty much cut down there. Poverty in America is narrated by longtime King family friend and Movement veteran Andrew Young. Almost a third of Americans are poor or barely surviving on low-incomes and pretty minimal government benefits.

In person, and in the documentary Wednesday night, King III sounded almost eerily like his dad. His final assertion in the documentary: "We can build a society where everyone gets a fair chance to succeed, despite the circumstances of thir birth. That's what my father fought for, and that's what I'll fight for." Well, God bless him. Seeing the (opposite) direction the U.S. has steadfastly travelled the past four decades, MLK III has the anti-poverty territory pretty well to himself. I've posted my photos of the premiere to my Flickr website.

Burma's Saffron Revolution: Violent crackdown on day 10

The violent crackdown everyone dreaded is on in Burma. International press are reporting one Japanese man is dead after being shot today by soldiers. This now brings Japan (also a Buddhist country) into the picture. The military controls Internet service within Myanmar and are blocking access to certain blogs, but word is getting out anyway. Several deaths have now been reported. Are the attacks on Buddhist monks, nuns and civilians the beginning of the end of Burma military rule? Where is India's voice? In a muted response China is now telling Burmese authorities to show "restraint". Thailand claims nothing unusual is going on. What about Europe, and Germany in particular? India and Germany both are said to have commercial ties to the Myanmar regime. U.S.-based Chronicle of Higher Ed links to New Mandala academic group blog which has lots of info and in turn links to Burmese site Kachin News Group in English and Burmese. There's also the link to Awzar Thi's Rule of Lords blog with compelling photos of what's now called the Saffron Revolution. Representatives of the people's movement say their non-violent protests are no fluke and the people will not give up. 

Team in Training: help Mel cross finish line(s) for cancer research

My friend Mel ('a girl') is doing Team in Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She and I (and a bunch of other civilian folks we know) have been together through thin and thick, doing human rights & election work in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Macedonia - but the other day she actually had to bike like halfway across the planet - or a similar distance. At least in my vivid imagination. So please visit Mel's training & fundraising page and make a donation. Thanks! Hang in there, John! Go, Mel!

"Captured Africans," Kevin Dalton Johnson's quayside work, Lancaster UK

'SWIM WITH SHARKS', originally uploaded by MarianDouglas.

Alasdair Pettinger's image of Johnson's sculpture somewhere near Lancaster's Millenium Bridge. The saying "to swim with sharks" began in the slave trade when sharks changed course to follow ships loaded with captured Africans, waiting for humans to jump or be thrown overboard. The permanent installation "Captured Africans" was conceived by Jamaican British artist Kevin Dalton Johnson who himself is a descendant of these kidnapped Africans. The section of his sculpture in this photo illustrates how in 17 years from 1745 to 1762 alone thirteen "slavers" (ships) sailing from Lancaster delivered almost 2,200 Africans into slavery and oblivion. We must add these numbers of people to all those trafficked through other UK ports and add those to the parallel Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish-Norwegian slave trades. Also the Arab slavers in the Indian Ocean trade in Africans.

Frantz Fanon and France's Wretched of the Earth

I'm remembering the brother of a friend of mine from the Maghreb - northern Africa. Yes - Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and several other countries beyond are in and are part of Africa. My friend's older brother was killed some years ago - murdered it seems - in a small town in France; a town I visited. To my knowledge up to now no one has ever been arrested, let alone tried for this young man's tragic and unnatural death. I don't even have any idea whether French local authorities investigated the circumstances of his death. Last year in 2004, in spite of our collective efforts and dialogue at the 2003 European Social Forum (ESF/FSE) right there in France, in St. Denis and in Paris, there was precious little global recognition of France's history and responsibilities in Haiti during the 2004 bicentennaire - bicentennial - of the entire world's first modern Black republic. In spite of all this I maintain my love of France, though certainly not uncritically. I have lived and worked, struggled, learned and shared in France. Now national authorities have activated a state of emergency - un etat d'urgence - for the first time since Algeria's war of independence against France as European colonial occupier. There's a huge gap of both time and politics from 1955 to now. Yet not nearly enough has changed it seems. Coincidentally, the Bandung Conference in Indonesia also took place in 1955. Two of my blog categories are "Bandung+50" and "Wretched of the Earth?" I was very much influenced in choosing these themes by a person, a Black Frenchman and an historical cousin - another person of African descent from the Americas - named Frantz Fanon. Fanon authored two seminal works of "anti-colonial revolutionary thought, Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961), works which have made Fanon a prominent contributor to postcolonial studies." Fanon died of cancer in Washington, DC on 6 Dec. 1961. In 1964, after his death, his third book appeared in English as Toward the African Revolution. Black Skin, White Masks originally was titled, "An Essay for the Disalienation of Blacks." The above quote is from Prof. Deepika Bahri's informative Fanon website. Bahri, from India, is associate prof of English and director of Asian Studies at Emory University in the US. Her site also notes British director Isaac Julien's 1996 film on Fanon - Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, available from California Newsreel. Read more of this post below...

FRANTZ FANON, MD (1925-1961):

Native of MARTINIQUE, Caribbean Americas

Rosa Parks' American Life: 1913-2005

Rosa Parks has died at the age of 93. Mrs. Parks was well-known and yet she was one in a long line of Black American women who were willing to live by their integrity and courage. This is a photo of Ms Parks in 1955 as she was being arrested for ... basically for being Black and not accepting the proscribed and subjugated space to which Blacks are still regularly assigned. There are at least three lessons to keep in mind from Mrs Parks' life and exoerience. Obviously she was not a very darkskinned individual, and yet some people maintain the artifice that pretends that lighter-coloured skin in and of itself is an adequate shield to protect some people of African descent from social discrimination and human rights abuse. That's a lie. The second point goes to political and social gender reality as lived by Black women and often also other women of colour. In 1955 Ms Parks was expected - by law - to give up her bus seat to a white male. That reality goes against popular "one size fits all" visions of gender relations, both internationally and in the USA. International mythology tells us that women supposedly are "respected and protected" by men. No white woman would ever be required to give up her seat or anything else to a Black man, and yet Rosa Parks went to jail for not getting up and moving to give her place to a white man. The third point goes back to the first and regards Mrs. Parks' appearance. It is possible that - like many millions of Black Americans and other African descendants in the Americas - one of her two male grandparents quite likely may have been a white male. So many experiences, so many ironies in one American woman's life. Thank you, Ms. Rosa Parks.

No "Race or Gender" in Political Appointments?

Conservative CNN television commentator Lou Dobbs poses the loaded question: "Do you believe race or gender should be a determining factor..." in jobs and nominations for various positions? Before anyone rushes in with "Oh gee, of course not" - guess what...  Surprise...

They already are:

photo: Tina Hager

White House photo

George Bush in Jackson Square: "Opportunity" or Opportunist?

George (Bush) is now on his what, uh... 53rd(?) trip down to New Orleans & other parts of the stricken Gulf Coast. Of course George carries with him a few more crumbs to spread (kind of like something else), even as he and his posse pass an Estate Tax repeal to relieve the suffering of the Super-Rich (Bush's base) while screwing the rest of us (including Katrina and Ophelia victims) with a new bankruptcy law. In Jackson Square "George the un-frugal Conservative" proposes big spending to rebuild New Orleans & the Gulf. It was Republicans who used to call this "throwing money at" a problem. News commentators note Bush never mentions 'sacrifice', nor how we are going to repay Chinese or other international lenders - to whom we are in major hock already. Bush thinks he also wants to re-define 'credibility'. Good luck, George. Meanwhile Louisville Courier Post political cartoonist Nick Anderson skewers The Bushter with his "HURRICANE LATRINA" cartoon. I'm loving it. Oh, and by the way... more than a few people consider New Orleans' Jackson Square "unlucky" if not downright evil. It's named in honor of the same Andrew Jackson who inaugurated the US federal Indian Removal policy and infamous Trail of Tears. As with the siege of Iraq, Katrina is well on the way to becoming yet another Bush "adventure" not turning out quite as George would like.

The Superdome May be Condemned

Hurricane damage at the New Orleans Superdome is so bad it may need to be torn down.

Remembering - 23 Aug, International day for remembrance of the slave trade and abolition

For the past 200 years millions of people all over the world have been erasing local history connected to the trafficking of African people into slavery. Families, communities, entire societies, local, national and traditional leaders and governments, all have permitted and some even encouraged personal and collective amnesia about a commercial trade comprised of capturing and carrying people away from Africa. This commercial trade included places, people and institutions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia & the Pacific, and the Americas. Today in the 21st century we finally can more freely make choices to recover and heal public and private memories of this slave trade history. Our efforts to recover local knowledge will contribute to heal the history globally and the slavery that continues in and from Africa today. August 23rd is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

UNESCO chose this date because on the night of 22-23 August 1791 a slave rebellion began on the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo. Today Santo Domingo is shared by Haiti & the Dominican Republic. This rebellion of stolen Africans and their descendants marks a beginning to the protracted ending of the transatlantic commerce in people and enslavement of Blacks in the Americas. Not by accident, in some places enslavement has never totally ended - notably though not exclusively Mauritania, Sudan and certain areas of west Africa. From UNESCO: "International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade in the memory of all peoples. In accordance with the goals of the intercultural project "The Slave Route", it should offer an opportunity for collective consideration of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean."

Pow Wow homeboys from Wisconsin

Wisconsin 'homeboys' by MarianDouglas

On the last day of the Smithsonian Indian Museum's DC powwow Sunday we ran into two nice young men from Wisconsin - the Upper Midwest. They said I could take their picture so I did! I told them I'd put the photo on the blog - so here it is. Megwitch, guys. Behave yourselves, and travel well.

NMAI pow wow, DC

Male dancer in red, by MarianDouglas

It was a nice pow wow. We couldn't make it the first two days but that's ok.

My Part of France: bonne fete la France (take 2)

This is in honor of le 14 juillet - France's national holiday a couple of days ago - and le tour de France. For those of you who caught my first, brief attempt to post that Google-generated map of my part of France, you know it came out goofy - it was a trip. Wow. I would've left it here but it covered the whole blog and made it look, well - weird. But it would've made an "interesting" background. Anyway use this link to check out my map of les Alpes de Haute Provence - Barcelonnette, Le Sauze, Praloup, Col de Larche, Gap - kind of southeasternish France; very near the Francia/Italia border (and Savoia). And go Lance Armstrong!! La France c'est aussi chez moi.   

Live 8 Philadelphia: "Black America for Africa" - What about Africa for African Diaspora??

Live 8's concert in Philly (Philadelphia, Pa USA) was like "Black Americans for Africa." That's my own term. Stevie Wonder (real name: Steveland Morris/Steveland Judkins), Philly's own 'Fresh prince' Will Smith (real name: Willard Christopher Smith II), Destiny's Child - with Beyonce back, and many, many more. Black performers at Live 8 London and Paris were not far behind. Now what we really need is something the other way around -- like "Africa for Blacks in the Americas" - and in the Mideast, and Asia, and Europe too.  Meanwhile, check the images at BBC 1xtra's "Live 8 in Pictures."

Al Qaeda, Africa, Diamonds: International News You Probably Never Hear

When I was a full-time journalist my special interest was international news. I'm proud to say I 'got the bug' from broadcast news pioneer, Pauline Frederick [married name Robbins], who covered the UN for NBC (the early Today show) in New York in the 1950s and early 60s. Today (and the past 25 or so years) the meme spreading mindlessly to and from most US television and radio newsrooms is: "Americans are not interested in international news." Our lives and those of others depend on us knowing and understanding what's going on in the world. I'm speculating for just a moment that al Qaeda may [or may not] be linked to the London explosions.  How does al Qaeda - and related entities- finance itself? In spite of events whirling around us daily in the world -- and in spite of the controversial facts of the United States' own global reach - the US remains an out-of-touch and overly insulated society. Sorry to have to say it. But we cannot afford to be, and this must change. This is not about fear and it's not really about further using the US army or other military either; it is about ordinary Americans being fully aware and participating in constructive ways in the world we are part of. We cannot afford to wait for more attacks - anywhere in the world - like these in London, and then as Americans give the briefest and purely self-interested glance at issues and crises going on in other parts of the world.  One question all of us need to consider is: What is the US's foreign policy? - What is our country's long-term foreign policy? There's got to be more to US foreign policy than "fighting" - whether it's terrorism or whatever. And I'm not even going get started about the war in Iraq. What about the various crises and armed conflicts in Africa that we ordinary people ignore? What is the reality of US policies and lack of policies in the conflicts in Africa? Meanwhile, is it true that al Qaeda is funding itself, or has funded itself, through buying, cutting and trading African diamonds from conflict zones?? If it's true then the trail of violence leads across the vast diamond network linking Africa to Antwerp and Belgium, and into the European Union. (FYI: Belgium has a history of 'transparency' versus corruption issues.) Were certain journalists warned off more reporting of these events? Two detailed articles from 2002: Doug Farah's Report Says Africans Harbored Al Qaeda: Terror Assets Hidden In Gem-Buying Spree, in the Washington Post; and Edward Harris in South Africa's Independent online, Al-Qaeda's diamond-studded reign of terror, quoted briefly in the extension below. Douglas Farrah's article has so much information, I just say: read the article.

The Tom and Katie show

Am I the only person who wants to know WHY Tom Cruise keeps grabbing that girl by the back of her neck? "Spirit Fingers" (I'm guessing SF is a "Western" blogger) based in Hong Kong has at least one blog entry on the TOM AND KATIE Show: "I Loved This Woman." [even if I did snap her neck]

Was he afraid she might turn her head?

"Africa Meets the Americas" - Global Black Women Leaders Meet in TEXAS Usa, October 2005

Ladies and gentlemen: "Africa Meets the Americas," the Houston Global Congress Unites Black Women Leaders. October 7-11, 2005 we will celebrate the Second Global Congress of Black Women Leaders, this year in Houston, Texas USA. Perhaps you or your organisation or someone you know can sponsor a Black woman leader to attend. The first Global Congress took place last July at UNESCO headquarters, PARIS, where pioneer African Brasilian woman political leader Benedita da Silva was outstanding, and was elected Speaker of the Congress by conference attendees. For more info on "Africa Meets the Americas," go to: www.gcbwl.org or www.globalcongressofBlackWomenLeaders.org. Register here in English. Global Congress founder & Organiser is Ms Sandrah Monthieux Pelage, native of Martinique, West Indies/le Caraibe; email: gcbwl at e-a-r-t-h-l-i-n-k dot net - don't forget to take out the dashes. The Honorable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of United States Congress is the Host and Honorary Chair. Be part *Bring passion *Break paralysis *Be powerful. Honorary Chairs who will address the Congress: Dr Dora Akunyili, Director General, National Agency for Food & Drug Administration and Control, Nigeria; Dame Jocelyn Barrow, the first Black Woman Governor of the BBC & Honorary Chair of the Global Council of Black Women Leaders; la Senadora Piedad Córdoba, Member of the Senate of Colombia, South America, and Lecturer at the National University of Colombia, Bogota; the Honorable Joyce London Alexander, first Black Chief United States Magistrate Judge, Boston, Massachusetts USA; Her Excellency Barbara Masekela, first Black Woman Ambassador to Paris and to the USA for the Republic of South Africa; Ms Harriet R. Michel, president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, New York, New York; Dr Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Associate Dean, Harvard University School of Public Health and Leader of the Global Congress' Health & Wellbeing Commission; Ministra Matilde Ribeiro, Government Minister for Promotion of Racial Equality, Brazil; Hon. Députée Christiane Taubira, Member of the Parliament of France and originator of the "Slavery, Crime against Humanity" legislation in France; Her Excellency Marina Valère, Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to the USA, and former board member of Trinidad and Tobago Airports Authority; and Ms Sandrah Monthieux Pélage, founder and president of the Global Congress and the Global Council of Black Women Leaders, Inc. Register here: www.gcbwl.org. Official conference hotel is Hilton Americas. Book your room now at Global Congress lower room rate; and for sure other Houston hotels also are available even if they aren't official conference hotel.

2004 Global Congress-UNESCO PARIS

Unlocking the Door of no Return: OTU People of African Ancestry Reunion, NYC 12 August

Deadria Farmer-Paellman, genetics scientist Dr Rick Kittles and others are planning the August 12 OTU ceremony in New York. On March 4 I posted an entry about Gina Paige's Atlanta, Ga lecture on Africa, DNA and Genetics. Now Farmer-Paellman and her colleagues are organising the first annual OTU African Ancestral DNA Ceremony: "Unlocking the Door of No Return." See below Dina Kraft's photo of the actual Door of No Return in Senegal, west Africa. Tens of millions of our African ancestors were forced out of Africa through those corridors and deported to the Americas. Scores of other African deportees met their deaths in "the middle passage" of the icy cold Atlantic Ocean. OTU - the Organization of Tribal Unity: Reuniting People of African Ancestry: www.theotu.com. With a keynote address by Dr. Rick Kittles, PhD geneticist and founder of African Ancestry DNA testing company. Dr Kittles did special research for the 2003 BBC tv documentary, Motherland: a genetic journey.

Dina Kraft photo. The haunting Door of No Return, Goree Island, Senegal, West Africa

August 12 performances by The Great Day Chorale, directed by Louvinia Pointer. Ceremony, 10 am to noon, reception, noon to 2 pm. Church Center for the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, 1st Avenue at 44th St, New York. "Join us in recognizing those who have unlocked the "Door of No Return" through DNA testing. Learn more about these powerful tests and network with others who share our African ethnicity and nationality." Free admission but limited seating - rsvp by July 20. Co-Chair/Founder, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann; Co-Chair/Chief Genealogist, Antoinette Harrell-Miller; Chief Elder, Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely; Chaplain, Reverend Al Sampson. This takes place 11 days before annual 23 August International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition, recognised by UNESCO.

Mapping California and Nevada earthquakes

What's shaking? California? On this map you see California and Nevada earthquakes - small and larger ones, both on land and offshore - plotted from the past hour to the past week. At the time I'm writing the map shows about 870 earthquakes. Incredible.

Quandary... What's this?

This website... Is it politics? Or humour?

Rafferin Out - de Villepin Named French Prime Minister

Dominique de Villepin: From interior minister to prime minister

French president Jacques Chirac names de Villepin prime minister. A bit strange since de Villepin comes from the same French political elite that voters rejected Sunday along with the EU Constitution (55% of votes were against).

BBC reports: "... The former interior minister replaces Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who tendered his resignation minutes earlier. President Jacques Chirac promised cabinet changes after the referendum, in which almost 55% voted "No". Correspondents say the result reflects domestic discontent as well as wider anxiety about the European project. Mr Chirac is due to address the nation on Tuesday evening to present a policy for the new team, which is expected to govern until elections in 2007. ..." Continued on BBC News website

My "Like Letter" to George Lopez

I just want George Lopez to know that from the first time I saw him doing stand up on national TV in the 1980s I knew he was loco in the very best way, and I fell in deep "like" & respect for him. George Lopez is intelligent, funny and yes, folks, he does bite. But mostly it heals. I love his website; it's warm and interesting and easy to read. You really see something in there about the vato. I also didn't miss the fact he has War's anthem Lowrider as musical theme of his site. I love that too. I didn't mention G-Lo has a new book, WHY ARE YOU CRYING? There's an excerpt here. And I didn't know he had a kidney condition and had a transplant. Wow. I'm so glad he's better and helping others and back to cracking jokes and diciendo la verdad. We love you, George; we are proud of you.

Es un chulitito, verdad? G. Lopez is a cutie

Europe in Black U.S. family histories - the 'gap' between there and here

Lowndes Square, London SW1. My paternal Lowndes ancestors were enslaved by wealthy, rice-growing white Lowndes slaveholders near Charleston, South Carolina

Not long ago I posted the story of the Afro German man who traveled all the way to the US to find his Black American family in Virginia. A few years ago while we were still in Skopje, via the Internet I helped a Danish guy in Denmark find his Black American cousins. The fact he found them was a miracle and for me it's still a great feeling. His family connections came from an aunt who migrated from Denmark to the US around 1915. Their family story ought to be a book. Then there's White America, representing the 'gap' in the family histories bridging the US with Europe. Too often the gap seems as much one of humanity as of the micro histories many, many people refuse to share. My apologies for being brutally frank but the 2 searches above were simple and straightforward compared to the endless and pointless dissimulation about ancestors' race that seems to exist in virtually every white US family. I wish this were different since like growing numbers of Black Americans I've found a few willing white relatives, in our case folks not related through enslavement. The Afro German did share that he has the same unfortunate problem of exclusion by his European [German] blood relatives as we've had for 200 to 400 years with most of ours. So imagine my surprise finding that someone had actually added a page to a Scottish Douglas website. Douglas: The family and the clan - Marian Douglas. I never even set foot in Scotland til 2004. A contact in Dundee has since asked me to write something about what my Scots' "connections" mean to me, i.e., the Douglases, Nichols, Fergusons, etc. There seems a preponderance of Scots names among Black