I missed it! In Season 6 of Perry Mason, there was a judge who was Black. However, the writers and/or producers gave him no lines to speak. Probably to appease the racist South that would not broadcast a show that featured a Black person in a position of authority. Because of that, neither Perry nor the District Attorney made any of their usual objections/motions. From what I read on the Internet, Daniel Elam or Vincent Townsend, Jr. portrayed the judge. The judge was not mentioned in the credits because it was the practice not to credit actors with non-speaking roles.
Here’s where things get really confused. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0673394/trivia/ This entry is confusing because it says that “Vincent Townsend Jr, was the first African American to portray a judge on Perry Mason yet he is not mentioned in the credits. Mr. Townsend had a distinguished legal career as the first black judge in Los Angeles County and a roommate of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.” Why is Judge Townsend mentioned when the entry states that Daniel Elam portrayed the judge in this episode? An aside: there was a Black male observer in the courtroom.
This site–https://reelrundown.com/tv/Perry-Mason-The-Case-of-the-Silent-Black-Judge-and-More–has pictures.
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If the pictures are correct, Daniel Elam on the left and Judge Townsend on the right, then the judge in that Perry Mason 6th season episode was played by Vincent Townsend, Jr who was a judge in real life. The actor, Daniel Elam, looks nothing like Judge Townsend. An aside: you’d think there would be more pictures on the Internet of Judge Townsend as he was the first Black judge in Los Angeles County. Judge Townsend was also a Methodist minister.
There are many pictures of Daniel Elam on the Internet. However, none of the sites that list his many roles mention Perry Mason.
In researching Judge Townsend, I found out that the Black actor, that I mentioned in previous posts, who played the expert witness in at least two episodes was Ivan Dixon. Even though I watched Hogan’s Heroes, I did not recognize him.
A Nigerian pastor gave 55 million naira to his wife for her birthday nd the congregation was cheering. 55 million naira is currently worth $34,758.65 in U.S. dollars. He raised that money from his congregation who I’m sure could have used that money for necessities. I suppose the colonized mind and the enslaved mind are not even a spectrum of the Stockholm Syndrome as they present the same. The attitude of using those who trust you for personal gain is the same here as in Africa. The greed that is baked into the patriarchy and its institutions is in full view for those who have the eyes to see.
Mind doodle–could it be that the story of Jesus is really a clumsy attempt of the nascent patriarchy to shame stepfathers into not murdering and/or mistreating their stepchildren? We know one of the tenets of patriarchy is that males only want to benefit their blood descendants…especially, their male blood descendants. In order to do so, if the woman had other children, they were often murdered or mistreated. The Jesus story tells those males that a stepson may benefit them, i.e. become famous rich, etc,. Then, guess who will benefit…the stepfather. So, be like Joseph…nurture that stepson. Because, remember, in the patriarchy, only males have value.
The beasts of greed have begun eating each other. An oligarch has turned against his creation…let’s see how long it lasts. There will be bodies, but whose?
Make it make sense–the laws that were enacted to redress centuries of one of the central tenets of white supremacy, i.e., only white people should have jobs that paid well and had benefits, are now being used to justify whites having jobs that they are not qualified for because somehow the system they the white people created is now discriminating against them and, so now, they get the jobs solely because they are white. Like it was before. You know, when America was great. Make it make sense.
Martin Luther King said: Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
Love for whom? I think it’s been said that he meant love for the hater. I think that’s wrong. I think only love of self, not a narcistic love, can address the hatred others have for you. Love of self says that I am worthy; I deserve better. That is the love that translates into action. The Staple Singers got it right when they sang–Respect yourself, respect yourself. If you don’t respect yourself ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot–excerpt from Respect Yourself by the Staple Singers
Further, darkness is made up of different elements, some of which are light. So, if one can bring the light elements of the dark together, they may extinguish the dark. So, darkness may extinguish darkness–that is the reason that the tactics of evil may be used against evil to good effect. Evil does not recognize good, but it does recognize itself. What evil cannot do is recognize motivation. Evil cannot comprehend evil that is not in furtherance of evil.
Shades of gray are lost in the patriarchy. Patriarchy thinks in terms of yes and no. Patriarchy abhors nuances. You are either for me or against me. As I’ve said before, patriarchy is not sustainable and the Earth has had its fill.
The last gasp of any group’s reign of power is often the worst time to be a part of that society. Maybe that’s what we are going through now. Mother Nature is taking care of many of this society’s racist and supremacist icons and ensuring that those icons will not be rebuilt.
It has come to my attention that most of the so-called advances touted in the era of the patriarchy are not really advances as they come with significant downsides that are minimized, lied about, and hidden into virtual non-existence. Even the stories created by the patriarchy to hype its successes and benefits have been turned upside down and inside out to benefit males who are grasping, greedy, misogynistic, xenophobic, and downright evil. If there truly are beings who are biologically human but have no souls, they have found a home in the patriarchal era.
The groundhog that has been visiting for the last couple of years is back and so is a lizard. Haven’t seen a lizard for a few years and, in the past, there was lizard that lived in the crevice of my front steps and there was another that sunned itself on my back steps. So, pet rabbits, a groundhog, a lizard, and the ever-present squirrels–what a menagerie.
Engine, engine number 9
Get me, get me back on time
Move on, move on down the track
Keep that steam comin’ out the stack
Huh! keep on movin’ Excerpt from Engine No. 9 by Wilson Pickett
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