I'm sure all of you have heard about the campus shooting spree in Illinois this week. But did you know that there was another deadly shooting on a college campus last week as well? Well if you didn't that may be because it involved three African American women college students and all three are dead.If it had not been for the blog Essential Presence I would not have heard anything about it.
Read Symphony's post here: I can't wait to get my ass off a college campus
Did you hear about the Louisiana College shootings?
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You really should see this, this young woman is amazing. Her name is Nokulunga Buthelezi or Lunga for short. Apparently she is South African and very talented.
Thanks to Undercover Black Man for this.
What do you think?
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Black History Month
Exodusters was a name given to black Americans who fled the Southern United States for Kansas in 1879 and 1880. After the end of Reconstruction, racial oppression and rumors of the reinstitution of slavery led many freedmen to seek a new place to live. Many settled in Kansas because of its fame as the land of the abolitionist John Brown (1800–1859). The state was reputed to be more progressive and tolerant than most others. Separatist leaders such as Benjamin "Pap" Singleton had promoted it among black Americans.
The Kansas Exodus was an unorganized mass migration which began in 1879. Local relief agencies, such as the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association, did try to provide aid, but they could never do enough to meet the needs of the impoverished migrants. The Exodusters continued coming to Kansas through the summer of 1880; then the movement died out.
Have you heard of the Exodusters before?
Wolf ticket is a corruption of woof ticket, an African American slang expression for the practice of verbal intimidation, "sellin' (or passin' out) wolf tickets," that was misinterpreted. Over time, the misnomer has become accepted terminology in some quarters.
Woofing (woofin')," like "signifyin" and "talkin' trash," is part of the African American oral tradition. The term is derived from the onomatopoeic expression of the sound of, for instance, a junkyard dog barking to ward off potential intruders.
"Selling wolf tickets" is the act of engaging in threatening or intimidating verbal aggression, usually without the intent of doing actual physical harm. In West African and African-American cultures, verbal sparring and physical displays traditionally were employed as proxies for physical violence to preserve life and maintain peace and order. Woofin' also can be a means of "calling someone out," of challenging an opponent to a verbal or physical match.
Have you heard the phrase "woof Ticket" before?
Text Attribution: Wikipedia
13 comments:
Hey MDC. Thanks for the hat-tip. Lunga is my new favorite entertainer of all times!
"Exodusters" I'd never heard of. So many interesting American narratives seem to have gotten lost in the sauce. I hate how that works. But I'm glad you're putting the internets to use in sharing this knowledge.
As for "wolf tickets"... check out this 1980 jam from the P-Funk spinoff group Parlet. One of my old favorites.
That’s what sellin’ them wolf tickets’ll getcha!
I have heard of it and have engage in the practice back in the day. We use to say talking that S---. If it was practiced today maybe more of our young people would still have life. Have a blessed day.
MDC,
I live in Louisiana, so of course I heard about the shootings and am working on a post for my blog. I also noticed that there was no national coverage. The lives of white people are always more more valuable than ours. I was really surprised that this happened. It's not often that u hear about black wome doing this sort of thing. They say the young woman was disturbed. I felt so sorry for the victim's husband and children. I feel sorry for the shooter's mom too. Can u imagine how that feels, to know that your child took the life of someone else's life. It's just a major tragedy. I think deidra at blackandmissing has also covered the shooting.
I did hear about the Louisiana shootings when they first happened. There were a bunch of stories and I remember being shocked that it was a woman and nursing student. But then there was no follow-up with pictures.
I do get most of my news online and there are constant breaking news stories. However, what television news decides to report is very different.
So funny...my husband calls my very sweet and loveable dog Jax "woof ticket," because though my dog is fond of bounding about the backyard barking at passersby, he is, in reality, a big chicken who is regularly "punked" by our bad-assed, two-year-old cat, Bad Juju.
I never heard of the term "woofin" before, but that may be because I grew up in Detroit and people didn't usually bark unless they bit. When I lived in Kansas I heard about the Exodusters though. There is a town called Nicodemus that is a historical mounument them. Another intersting fact relating to them is that Oklahoma, which borders Kansas, was at one point was considered for the creation of a "Negro" state.
Homeland Colors,
Weird you should bring up the Oklahoma black state. Yesterday, at a meeting of out local black genealogy group there was a presentation about black cowboys and blacks in the West, including Oklahoma. I think the free state was going to be called Sequoyah. It seems that there were many properous all-black towns in Oklahoma once upon a time. One of the group members has roots in Oklahoma and gave a fascinating presentation.
Actually I had never heard of the term 'wolf ticket' before, but I know of several synonyms for it.
:-)
I did hear briefly of the shootings in Louisiana, it was on CNN -- but they didn't show pictures and it was a very brief blurb.
Thanks for raising awareness about it.
UBM,
Thanks for the music link!
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JJ B,
You are so right, "woofin'" seems to be a lost art.
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Tasha,
I read that the shooter had been homeless. I wonder why?
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Anali,
I get most of my news online too. In fact I probably get about 90% online between blogs and foreign news sites.
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Tami,
Lol, that's funny! :)
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HC,
Wow imagine if there had actually been a "Negro" state. I wonder how that would have turned out.
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SheCodes,
They didn't talk about it at all on the networks that I know of.
I had not heard of the other shootings, but am not surprised at the lack of coverage.
Thanks for the information.
XJ - I moved your comment for you. :)
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XJ said...
MDC,
Off topic but I couldn't seem to find where to leave a comment on the 3 black women who were shot. I am in Iraq and I have no radio or tv - all my news comes from the web and I heard about it. It was a big story as have all the shootings been lately. There were four in 3 days - and this was one of them. Give white people a chance girl- sometimes when I read your blog I feel like you think everything bad is because of white people and white people don't care about the deaths of black people -trust me, decent people, regardless of race care when someone(s) is killed or passes away. I love reading your blog and I will continue but I think you are quite slanted on the race issue. But you are entitled and I try to see things as best I can from this side. I was poor growing up and I surely wasn't accepted because I was a foster child - but those struggles have made me stronger and who I am!
February 18, 2008 9:36 AM
Regina,
The Louisiana shottings are really sad. The lack of coverage doesn't surprise me either.
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WTM,
Are you talking about the film Roeswood? That was a good film. I may write a post about it.
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Hi XJ,
I don't really get what you are reading into my post. I was not indicting White people in general I was really calling out the corporate media for not covering the Louisiana story the way they have covered the other shootings.
Please re-read what I said, I didn't even mention White people.
Now MDC, I know that "woof ticket" term all too well as in Maryland we used to use it all the time. I am not sure if I still here it but I haven't used it in a long time. No we say "stop frontin' ", "oh you frontin' now?", "you want some of this, bring it" - you know crazy stuff like that. Even some award references have been tossed out too.
Have heard Exodusters but I think in a Jamaican something. Can't recall if I saw it on a book, an AD or even in one of the Caribbean shops. I do know I've seen it though.
Did not know about the Louisiana murders till I came to your Blog. And the video you've linked is gone. I'll have to teach you my trick for saving them and then uploading them via Blogger's thingy. ;) I really try not to link them off YouTube if I can help it because so much is being snaaaaaaaaaatched down.
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