I can not end my day without honoring those men and women who lost their lives and their innocence on a day like today 72 years ago.
So many things are happening in our world today. Many world events, conflicts, economic woes, unemployment and the loss of a major player in the shaping of our existence. Because of these realities, there might be a tendency to forget what happened 72 years ago on December 7, 1941.
Never forget!!
A major event that changed the course of history!
Pearl Harbor in the territory of Hawaii was the homeport of the Pacific Fleet, a wonderful “home away from home” for the men who preserved America’s interests abroad. Though the European continent found itself embroiled in a bitter world war in the latter days of the 1930s, in the Pacific there was no hint of trouble. American ships made routine patrols, practiced drills that most men thought would never be needed, and then returned to Pearl Harbor for periods of rest, relaxation, and recreation.
The weekend of December 6 and 7, 1941, promised to be a great time for the sailors who had returned to Pearl. There wasn’t the slightest hint of trouble; even the weather seemed to be smiling on the tropical port. When the sun rose on Sunday morning young sailors from around the United States had little opportunity to be homesick; there was too much to see and do.
Throughout the harbor men were at ease, finishing breakfast, writing letters home, planning for their afternoon on the island’s sandy beaches, or just sleeping in. Aboard the USS Nevada, Warrant Machinist Donald Ross was shaving and thinking about his girlfriend Helen at home. Tomorrow would be Donald’s birthday. On board the USS Oklahoma Ensign Francis Flaherty was counting the days until he could return home to Michigan and go back to school. He had joined the Navy to earn money to get into medical school.
At Kaneohe Bay, John Finn cuddled next to his wife Alice as they tried to decide which of them would get up and start the coffee.
It was 7:53 A.M. and events were about to unfold that would propel the United States into a World War that would ultimately cost more than a quarter-million American men and women their lives. On this day alone more than 2,400 men, women and children would die in Paradise.
On a pier near the harbor sailors and Marines prepared for a softball game. On the nearby battleship USSNevada, others were getting ready for a tennis tournament. Many of the sailors had spent the night ashore, others had returned to their berths late after a night on the town. There was limited duty on this beautiful Sunday morning, affording ample opportunity for the men to enjoy their brief stay in Paradise.
As the hour neared the 8 o’clock muster and the raising of the colors, all was peaceful and relaxed. A large number of sailors gathered on the beach for an outdoor morning chapel service. On the USS Nevada the band was beginning the first strains of the National Anthem for the hoisting of the flag.
I am more than humbled … I have been honored with this award, created by my dear friend Idealistic Rebel …… and even more important because it’s in memory of Nelson Mandela.
So many thanks!! I accept ….. and will display it proudly on “It is What It Is” ….. Hugs!!
I created this award several days ago, and now here I am again, spreading it out to more worthy people. I can do it because I designed it.
The Rules:
To be eligible for this award, a blogger must blog about the importance of One World, One Family of Mankind, and One Love.
Recipients should Nominate 5 people who have demonstrated through their writing a love of the Human Family that encompasses all without regard for differences.
Give credit and thanks to the person who passes the award to you.
Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941
Overview and Special Image Selection
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the…
IT IS SPECIAL TO ME BECAUSE I LIVE IN FLORIDA, THE SUNSHINE STATE!
Like any other award, this one has its own importance. Awards motivate me to do better, to improve how I prepare posts, to do better research, to share with fellow bloggers ….
First of all, I’d like to express my gratitude for being nominated. Since I started this blog it has exceeded my wildest expectations. I never thought it would be so much fun to do this blogging “thing” and that I would meet so many other awesome bloggers.
Thank you to everyone who has made this experience so fantastic.
The rules of this award are as follows:
Use the award logo in a post and/or on your blog. Include a link back to whoever nominated you. Offer 10 pieces of random information about you. Nominate 6 other bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.
Let your nominees know about their much deserved award.
TEN RANDOMS THINGS ABOUT ME:
I was born in Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean … if you don’t know where this is, I would encourage you to google it to find out more about my country
I love rainy days and Mondays
Music is an indispensable part of my life …
Reading is a passion
I am the fourth child of seven siblings … only my older brother and myself made it to continue on this Earth
I am the only one left of my immediate family … a total of four
I’ve been happily retired since February 2013
I started blogging in March 2013 …. I now have plenty of time to look things up and post about them
I like peace, quiet and solitude
I am a friend for life when I offer my friendship
On to the nominations now that the 10 random things about me have been listed.
These nominate the following bloggers — I find to have outrageous talent and great writing styles.
In my book, they are just awesome people and deserve to be recognized for their hard work and dedication!
Again, a huge thank you, from the deepest part of my being. I truly feel blessed to have started this endeavor and very thankful to have crossed paths. I know that there are many others out there. I want you to know that I honor you, follow you and enjoy all postings.
We need to keep this going … it’s the only way to be really informed.
Take care because all of you matter … from the heart.
I’m gonna make a change,
for once in my life
It’s gonna feel real good,
gonna make a diference
Gonna make it right…
As I, turn up the collar on
my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowing my mind
I see the kids in the streets,
with not enought to eat
Who am I to be blind?
Pretending not to see their needs
A summer disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man soul
They follow each other on the wind ya’ know
‘Cause they got nowhere to go
That’s why I want you to know
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)
It is with great sadness and a profound sense of loss that we learn of the passing of Mr Nelson Mandela at his home in Houghton on 5 December.
We join the many millions of people across the world in expressing our condolences to his family, to South African nation and the international community. South Africa was blessed to have a leader of his calibre and stature in their midst and his passing will leave a huge void in our hearts and minds.
Mr Mandela was always a pragmatic and thought-provoking leader who spoke boldly of the challenges of HIV and AIDS. He never shied away from tackling the important issues we face as an international community in firstly acknowledging the challenges and, secondly, in providing insight into how these can be dealt with.
At the opening ceremony of ICASA at Abuja (Nigeria), Mr Mandela provided much…
Nelson Mandela‘s Speech, made on the stairs of the Cape Town City Hall, 11 Febuary 1990 opposite the Grand Parade and a stone’s throw from the Castle. This was the official day of his release from prison in which he traveled to Cape Town and made his freedom speech on the steps of the Cape Town City Hall.
I was a editor in the UK when I was asked if I would like to return to SA and cover the release of Nelson Mandela. This was 6 months before the announcement was made to the rest of the world. The day before Nelson Mandela‘s release I think CBS and BBC formed a coalition to cover the release from Victor Verster prison with what they call “pool cameras” and then sell the material to all the…
Mandela, a global icon who transformed from anti-apartheid activist to master of unity and reconciliation, was imprisoned in 1963 for fighting segregation in South Africa.
After serving 27 years in jail, he was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994.
Outrage over the brutality of segregation in South Africa hit critical mass in 1984 with intensive television coverage of rebellions in the black townships, focusing on the violent crackdowns by thousands of police and military — much in the way television captured images of dogs and fire hoses used by Bull Connor against protesters in Birmingham, Ala., during the U.S. civil rights movement.
Soon, protesters on campuses across the country — including CU and Auraria — were being arrested for occupying shantytowns they had built from cardboard and plywood to symbolize the living conditions of South African blacks.
In 1986, Congress passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which demanded the end of apartheid and banned all new U.S. trade and investment in South Africa.
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans.
Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the Civil Rights Movement were passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that banned discrimination based on “race, color, religion, or national origin” in employment practices and public accommodations; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that restored and protected voting rights; the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups; and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the country young people were inspired to take action.
A wave of inner city riots in black communities from 1964 through 1970 undercut support from the white community. The emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted from about 1966 to 1975, challenged the established black leadership for its cooperative attitude and its nonviolence, and instead demanded political and economic self-sufficiency.
American civil rights movement, mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s. This movement had its roots in the centuries-long efforts of African slaves and their descendants to resist racial oppression and abolish the institution of slavery.
Although American slaves were emancipated as a result of the Civil War and were then granted basic civil rights through the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, struggles to secure federal protection of these rights continued during the next century.
Through nonviolent protest, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s broke the pattern of public facilities’ being segregated by “race” in the South and achieved the most important breakthrough in equal-rights legislation for African Americans since the Reconstruction period (1865–77).
Although the passage in 1964 and 1965 of major civil rights legislation was victorious for the movement, by then militant black activists had begun to see their struggle as a freedom or liberation movement not just seeking civil rights reforms but instead confronting the enduring economic, political, and cultural consequences of past racial oppression.
~~Mandela inspired generations of civil rights backers from a jail cell~~
~~Nelson Mandela inspired great music around the world~~
Mandela still was languishing in a Cape Town jail cell. But the passions he excited and the hopes that he raised had been reverberating across popular music for years, and would continue after he finally walked out of prison a free man in February 1990.
Some of those musical tributes were literal and unequivocal, expressed in a slew of powerful protest songs and homages by artists ranging from Johnny Clegg and Savuka (“Asimbonanga”) and Youssou N’Dour (“Mandela”) to Peter Gabriel (“Biko”) and Stevie Wonder (“It’s Wrong”). Others, like “Graceland,” were more implicit and metaphorical, expressed more through stylistic mergings than through fiery political messages.
The global musical reaction to Mandela’s cause, in fact, helped build bridges across cultural divides that endure today. One of the best-known songs, Artists United Against Apartheid’s “I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,” for the first time brought together on record superstars of rock and R&B with the kings of a rising young genre called hip-hop.
The Freedom Singers perform “(Ain’t Gonna let Nobody) Turn me Around” at the White House Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement.
Bruce Springsteen – Eyes On The Prize – (Live Milwaukee 2006)
Simon and Garfunkel – He Was My Brother
Vocal Essence with Sweet Honey In The Rock – Ella’s Song
Uploaded on Mar 18, 2010
Grammy nominated a cappella vocal ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock joined the VocalEssence Chorus in a performance of “Ella’s Song”–part of the sold out VocalEssence 20th Anniversary WITNESS concert on February 14, 2010 at The Ordway in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
~~IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE~~
The South African activist and former president Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) helped bring an end to apartheid and has been a global advocate for human rights. A member of the African National Congress party beginning in the 1940s, he was a leader of both peaceful protests and armed resistance against the white minority’s oppressive regime in a racially divided South Africa.
His actions landed him in prison for nearly three decades and made him the face of the antiapartheid movement both within his country and internationally. Released in 1990, he participated in the eradication of apartheid and in 1994 became the first black president of South Africa, forming a multi-ethnic government to oversee the country’s transition. after retiring from politics in 1999, he remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his own nation and around the world until his death in 2013 at the age of 95.
“Sei vorsichtig mit dem, was Du weisst. Damit beginnen Deine Probleme” 🍀 “Be careful of what you know. That’s where your troubles begin”
🌷
Wade in The 3 Body Problem
On a pier near the harbor sailors and Marines prepared for a softball game. On the nearby battleship USS Nevada, others were getting ready for a tennis tournament. Many of the sailors had spent the night ashore, others had returned to their berths late after a night on the town. There was limited duty on this beautiful Sunday morning, affording ample opportunity for the men to enjoy their brief stay in Paradise.
It Is What It Is 