A TRIBUTE TO SAMUEL WATTREE SR.

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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 A TRIBUTE TO SAMUEL WATTREE SR.

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GRANDDADDY WATTREE

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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"Eric, never let people know everything on your mind, because then they know everything you know, plus what they already knew. That makes them smarter than you."
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I was your first grandchild, and I never felt so secure as I did when I would snuggle up next to you and watched "Gunsmoke." I can still remember how you would make fun of Chester's country accent - "Mr. Deollion, Mr. Deollion!" Sitting there next to you I felt safe from everything. I haven't felt like that since you died. You were one of those men who was the UNDISPUTED head of the family - the ENTIRE family, and that included everybody who married into it. And not only the family, but everybody in the neighborhood treated you with deferment and respect, and that included some of the most feared gangsters in Watts.
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I can still remember how people like Hawkeye and Neal "ND" Davis would put out their cigarettes and try to hide their beer when we’d pull up to “George’s Corner” looking for PeeWee. One of them would slip into the club to give PeeWee a heads-up when

PEEWEE
(SAMUEL WATTREE JR.)

they saw you comin’, and the one’s outside would say, “How you doin’, Mr. Wattree? PeeWee’s inside.” And you’d say something like, “Man, how you keep from slidin’ out the bed with all that grease in your head?”, and they’d all fall out laughin’.
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My father was also a street person and certainly not one to be toyed with, but he would tiptoe around you as well, because he knew that you took absolutely NO shit. You spoke to him like he was one of your kids, and essentially he was, since you knew him from birth.
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But what I loved most was you wouldn't let anybody even raise their voice at me, including my mother, and I was always at your side – I even went to the store with you, and in the mornings you'd sprinkle water in my face to wake me up to have breakfast with you before you went to work.
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Grandmomma said it was ironic, because I was born out of wedlock just before my mother entered nursing school, and you were furious with both my mother and father. So when I was born you said, "You ain't bringing that bastard to my house." But momma said once I was home you immediately began to crack, and before long, whenever anyone came around me you wanted to know what they were doing. It was like I belonged only to you. Val used to say, “That's what's wrong with you - Daddy spoiled you.”
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And she was right, daddy. You spoiled me rotten, but she didn’t seem to

WHEN I WANTED TO BE A COWBOY
I GOT MORE THAN JUST CAP GUNS.
(PONY FURNISHED BY PHOTOGRAPHER)

have a problem with it once you started spoiling her. You bought her wedding rings, and you and momma started taking sides with her whenever we had a family dispute. I once tried reminding you that I was the one who was your blood, but to no avail. You knew and loved Val from the time she was a 14-year-old child and she was the mother of your great grandchildren, so that was that - daddy had spoken, which made it law. So my place was to just suck it up and get over it. I was a man now, and you didn’t pamper men. You said, it made 'em weak. 
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Consistent with the times, however, you had many old fashion ideas about "a woman's place", but you also believed that a man had a responsibility to keep his woman happy, and in our relationship Val played on that belief to the max. Sometimes when Val wanted something from me, I used to watch her in action around you, and it made me want to throw up. You would have thought she was Donna Reed, and I was Simon Legree - and the worst part about it was Grandmomma Lealer would help her! So it was clear that the days of cowboy outfits and always having my way was clearly over, and I began to recognize how the rest of the family must've viewed me as a kid when I was always getting my own way. It was sickening, and Val ALWAYS got her way. I was a grown man, and had to worry about my wife "telling daddy on me" - and it was like that until the day you died. I imagine Val's all up under you in Heaven as I speak.

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While it was hard falling into second place, it taught me that as a man

ME, KAI, AND LIL ERIC

nothing was given to me. I had to earn my standing in the world. But my wounded feelings aside, you started teaching me other lessons in life - lessons in manhood. You taught me to be an independent thinker. You gave me the confidence to stand firm regardless to what anyone said (unless it was you). You also taught me to absorb the knowledge and facts provided by others, but thereafter, to ALWAYS connect the dots for myself. So today, someone can tell me, "Well Martin said," or "Malcolm said," and my response will be, what does what Martin or Malcolm said have to do with what I think? So the bottom line is, you taught me to never give anyone else's ability to think priority over my own, and I want to thank you for that.
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We don’t see family dictators like you anymore, who rule the family and all its branches with the iron fist of absolute authority – but that’s too bad. Because every family should know the comfort and security of a strong patriarch that they knew they could always rely upon.
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You were an old-school Black man, the personification of competence and strength. A master mechanic by profession, you taught us the benefits inherent in the pursuit of knowledge and the value of love of family. While you weren’t one to hobnob, and you believed in keeping life simple (much like myself), you knew the future mayor, Tom Bradley, as Tom, who was a police officer at the time. You became friends when instead of taking PeeWee to jail, he would bring him home to you, knowing that you would handle the business that they couldn't - and you did! You were so brutal with PeeWee one night that it scared me, and the only reason you stopped was I started freaking out. I was so freaked out by the incident that I was actually afraid of you for several days. I was afraid you might do me like that. But you certainly made your point with PeeWee.
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While many White families were struggling to keep their heads above water, you made it possible for our family to coast through this nation’s most severe hardships without ever being in need of a thing. And most importantly, whenever anyone in the family faced adversities in life, we knew we could always “tell daddy”, and you would make things right.
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But it turned out that I didn’t know the half of it. After you passed Grandmomma Lealer would regale me with stories of your youth. She told me that when she got your attention as a young girl she knew she had hit the jackpot. She said you were never like the other boys, and she always liked you, but you were such a serious and distant person you didn't seemed to be interested. You were always in your own world and didn't seem to be interested in anybody. Then one day from out of nowhere you showed up at her door with a box of candy and she couldn’t believe it, but she said she was beside herself with joy, and all the other girls were happy for her (she had 6 sisters). 
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Then once you got married a rich White family, essentially, tried to enslave her. She was working for the family as a domestic and the people's kids became attached to her, so the family wanted her to live there on the premises. They weren't brutal, or threatening, or anything - at first. In fact they were all syrupy grins, and spewing words of love, and talking about you all "becoming one big family" and with my mother growing up with their kids - but, of course, with momma doing all the cooking, cleaning, and dirty work. But they crossed the line when they wouldn't let momma come home. They insisted that you come and move into a backhouse there on the premises.
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So you pretended to cave in. You packed up all your belongings and pulled up on the premises. Then when they came out to greet you, you pulled out a gun and told momma to get the baby (my mother) and get into the truck. Then you drove off, leaving Louisiana, and you kept going until you reached Los Angeles. That was in 1931 when my mother was a year old. Then once you got to Los Angeles you moved into a house a block or so from the renowned Dunbar Hotel, and started your new life.
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That was during the Great Depression and people were starving to death, but you opened up an auto shop on Central Ave. keeping people’s cars running, and you were making a killing. So while everybody else was struggling for food and trying to stay off the street, you bought your first home.  
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GRANDMOMMA LEALER

But momma wasn't telling me all of this for nothing, she was leading up to a point about being considerate and being a man. As usual, she was taking sides with Val in a dispute we were having. I was in college and I felt distracted and unable to study because Val kept the house full of people. Our house was like Grand Central Station with people congregating there 7 days a week, and I resented it. But  Momma told me a story that pointed out that you were very serious and was into your own thing as well, but you always found a way to accommodate her needs.
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She said, she was young and she still liked to party, but you were such a serious person that you didn't party at all. But instead of depriving her of what she liked to do, you would stay home with my mother and drop her off at the

CENTRAL AVE.

Dunbar Hotel to let her party her heart out all night long – not once or twice, but EVERY weekend - and then you would come pick her up at the end of the night. She said it never crossed your mind that she might start fooling around with one of those "pretty men" up there, because you had confidence in yourself and trust in her. She said, that made her love you even more – and that you were right. She went on to say, “And there were indeed some real pretty men up there, but she knew that no man in the building could even come close to matching the man she had at home.”
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Momma made her point, and it made me feel foolish that I was raising so much hell over Val wanting to have card parties and such AT HOME. After all, I did have a den. So I’ve learned a lot from you, even in death. You taught me to

DUNBAR HOTEL

keep life simple and enjoy my family instead of wasting my life (and my money) trying to be a bigshot to impress others. You said trying to be a bigshot is a hole that you can't ever stop diggin'. You had a rhyme you used to recite to me as a kid, and following the wisdom of that rhyme has allowed me to live a content and very happy life. You said, “All I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife and a good foundation.”
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Well, you had that and more, and I’ve found that simple lyric to be the key to enjoying life. The best way to have money is not to wasted it trying to impress others with a lavish lifestyle, and no amount of money can ever come close to making you as happy as a loving home. Later I found that to be the difference between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. With all of his so-called money, Trump is jealous of Barack Obama and can never live up to what Barack represents - and ironically, Barack is the one who people look up to. He doesn't try to be a bigshot. He's just a good man who loves his family and has solid values
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So now I’m “daddy” (or "Poppi" in my case), and I try to stand strong. But remnants of the child I once was still lives on in me, although I do my best to try to hide it. But that child greatly misses your strength, competence, and the wisdom of your guidance. I often yearn for the days when I would snuggle up next to you and watch “Gunsmoke”. Some nights I lie in bed and wonder did you ever feel that way. But somehow I doubt it. You were always your own man. You always looked forward and never one to looked back. So as hard as I try to be the man that you were, I guess they just don't make 'em like they used to.

LEGACY
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Neither scholar nor the head of state,
The most common of men seems to be my fate;
A life blistered with struggle and constant need,
As my legacy to man I bequeath my seed.
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More fertile, more sturdy these ones than I,
This withered old vine left fallow and dry;
The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,
But through their fruit I'll be revealed.
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Eric L. Wattree

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November 22, 1906 - 1983
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You’ll always live on, through me, and the Wattree Clan
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REST IN PEACE, DADDY.

YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY MAIN MAN.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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The six plane factories of the Douglas Aircraft Company have been termed an industrial melting pot, since men and women of fifty-eight national origins work side by side in pushing Americas's plane output. S. O. Porter, Douglas director of personnel, recently declared that Negros are doing an outstanding job in all plants. Samuel Wattree works in the El Segundo plant of the Douglas Aircraft Company.

• Digital ID: (digital file from intermediary roll film) fsa 8e01292
• Reproduction Number: LC-USW33-028630-C (b&w film neg.)
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
• http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8e01292/

SAMUEL WATTREE
MASTER MECHANIC

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, ANDINDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

ODE TO THE BLACK WOMAN

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

ODE TO THE BLACK WOMAN
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ALL 19 SISTERS RUNNING FOR JUDGESHIPS IN TEXAS
WON THEIR RACES.

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In response to my assertion that Black women have always been the backbone of the Black culture, one brother responded by saying,
"So does this mean that the black woman is responsible for a good portion of the Ills of the black community? Checkmate."

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No, good brother, there are many contributing factors to the dysfunction within the Black community, including racism, poor economic conditions, an underfunded public school system, and absentee Black fathers. If many of us had to depend on our fathers for our survival, a large number of us would have long since starved to death. Your perception of Black dysfunction has been forged by the White media.  The corporate media uses the most dysfunctional 10% of  Black people as a model to portray the entire Black community.  If White folks were portrayed as inaccurately as Black people, we'd think all White folks were barefoot Hillbillies.

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So while some, like yourself, may want to attribute Black dysfunction to Black women, I think the majority of us credit Black women with enabling the Black culture to survive - and prosper - IN SPITE of the atrocious conditions that has been forced upon us. So I'd say your view on this issue has been corrupted by the media, is grossly slanted, and overly simplistic, just like the views of many in the White community.  In short, you're falsely profiling your own people

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Black women have become the most educated group in US | The Independent
www.independent.co.uk › News › World › Americas
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. "Jun 3, 2016 - Black women are now the most educated group in US, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Between 2009 and 2010, black women earned 68 per cent of associate's degrees, 66 per cent of bachelor's degrees, 71 per cent of master's degrees and 65 per cent of all …

"The percentage of black students attending college has increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent from 1976 to 2012, while the percentage of white students fell from 84 to 60 per cent. By both race and gender, a higher percentage of black women (9.7 per cent) is enrolled in college than any other group, including Asian women (8.7 per cent), white women (7.1 per cent) and white men (6.1 per cent)."

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ODE TO THE BLACK WOMAN
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I have to scratch my head when I hear young
Brothers calling our sisters bitches and hoes;
the Black woman is our most precious asset.
Sister’s are the very womb of our culture,
and if it weren’t for her, we would have
long since been relegated to the
ash heap of history.
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Sister’s have been standing by us
to help nurture us into adulthood
and reinforcing our manhood
for centuries.
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When we were helpless,
hungry, and abandoned,
SHE WAS THERE . . .

to suffer with us,
and nurture us into manhood.
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When we were beaten down
and told that we weren’t shit
by the White man,
SHE WAS THERE . . .
to nurse our wounds,
and assure us of our value.
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When we ran the street
in a misguided attempt to seek our manhood,
SHE WAS THERE . . .
to rein us in,
and convince us that we were
more than our vision of ourselves.
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And once we gained the wisdom
to become real men,
SHE WAS THERE . . .
to defined our manhood through
the image we saw reflected in her eyes.
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So 

"THAT BITCH," 

and 

"THAT HOE,"
is our most precious
possession . . .
She's the ONLY thing of value we have
in this world,
and the only one who’s ever
given a damn about us -
and she didn't have to be
taught these things -
she was BORN that way,

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and we’d be lost without her.
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So wake up, damn fool!
                                                          Wattree

BLACK FEMALE WEST POINT GRADUATES 

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SO

THIS IS

DEDICATED TO ALL 

OF THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK WOMEN 

IN THIS WORLD 

WHO PUT UP WITH US 

SO SILENTLY, 

STAND BY US SO LOYALLY, 

AND LOVE 

OUR CRAZY ASSES 

SO PASSIONATELY, 

AND 

SO UNCONDITIONALLY.

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ON THE OTHERHAND,

THIS IS THE DUMB SHIT 

FAR TOO MANY OF OUR BROTHERS

ARE INTO

MY SWEET AND PRECIOUS BLACK SISTERS,

HOW DO YOU PUT UP WITH THIS DUMB SHIT?

I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT,

BUT I LOVE YOU 

FOR LOVING US ENOUGH 

TO SUFFER THROUGH  IT,

AND I THANK YOU FOR MY NEW

AND ENLIGHTENED LIFE.
I ALSO WANT TO THANK GOD 

FOR BLESSING US WITH YOU.
*
MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU

SWEET, 

CHOCOLATE LADIES. 

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
.
Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

MAKING KNOWLEDGE THE NEW SOUL

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

.

MAKING KNOWLEDGE THE NEW SOUL

ALL KNOWLEDGE IS VALUABLE, BUT WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT IS KNOWING WHERE YOU CURRENTLY ARE, AND WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

Black people have a long and illustrious history of great kings, queens, and warriors, but in spite of that we still ended up enslaved. The reason for that is simple - instead of dwelling on the past we should have been focused on the future and developing gunpowder, cannons, and armadas to patrol the shores of African. Thus, we were enslaved due to a lack of knowledge, and we’ll only liberate ourselves through the pursuit of knowledge.
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But currently we’re suffering from the very same problem that led to our enslavement in the first place. Far too many of us are focused on partying, getting’ high, throwing our fists in the air when we’re abused, and watching status chase quo. Then we tend to look back on our past to try to gain a sense of self-worth. While it might be good to indulge in that activity during our leisure moments, if we want to move forward, we must spend our time on self-development so we can take pride in who we are NOW, as individuals. Ancestor worship is a feel-good activity, but it's absolutely worthless when it comes to improving our condition. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't currently be trying to dig ourselves out of a hole, because we'd already be on top. In fact, ancestor worship is what's holding us down, because it's causing us to waste time and energy looking in the wrong direction. We should be focusing our time and energy on worshiping the future, not the past. The past is gone.
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To get a clear understanding of our situation we only have to observe what we do in our daily lives. When you pull out of your driveway to go to work, you glance back over your shoulder before you backup to avoid any obstacles that may be in your way. But once you’re out of your driveway, you have to look FORWARD if you want to reach your destination.
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The very same thing is true in life in general. You can’t depend on Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, or Malcolm to gain the sense of self-worth that'll help you to move forward. You can only move forward and gain a true sense of pride by developing YOURSELF as an individual. Just because Malcolm was impressive doesn’t mean that extends to you. You have to make YOURSELF strong, knowledgeable and Black – and sitting around trying to rhyme ain’t gonna do that. How do you expect to spit any wisdom if you're so uneducated you don't know anything about life beyond your hood? All you end up doing is spewing vulgar nursery rhymes behind a drum machine - and all that does is pass on ignorance to the next generation.
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I'm sure a lot of people are going to angrily object to what I'm saying. I expect that, because unvarnished truth can be painful. But that's okay.  I'll take the slings and arrows, because I love my people, I know their potential, and it's killing me to watch them squander it.
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In that regard, I really appreciate the fact that I'm hearing from some of the people I respect most on this subject. We need to all speak up, because I'm hearing a lot of slogans that sound catchy and pro-Black but bare absolutely no relationship to reality. One of those sayings is, "You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been." That sounds cute, but it's pure bullshit. If you get lost, it doesn't matter where you've been. What matters is figuring out where you ARE, and how you can get from there to where you want to go. 

You can be the world's greatest authority on Black history (and I know a lot of them), yet, still be on your ass. The reason for that is they spend so much time looking backwards that they haven't prepared for the future. They're geniuses in Black history, but they don't know a damn thing about business, politics, or efficient thinking. They think the key to life is about quoting Malcolm, but Malcolm's been gone for over 50 years, yet, we're still fighting the same battles. So we must be doing something wrong - and what that something is, is running around saggin' and tryin' to be cool, or tryin' to become entertainers or sports stars, and then throwin' on a dashiki to represent our manhood.
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Now, don't get me wrong, sports can be a good thing if it can help you through college and achieve your goals. But the bottom line is, games are for kids, and it's the Toy Department of life. Donald Trump's a big sports fan, so I guess I can rest my case on that alone. I also like dashikis, but I've long since recognized that a dashiki can't coverup ignorance and a lack of knowledge.
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Our sisters - who have ALWAYS been the true backbone of our culture -

have seen the light, and if brothers don't wake up, we're even gonna lose them. Black women are now the most educated group in America, and no educated sister wants to be dealing with a 32-year-old teenager to help her raise her children - and beyond that, they're not going to be able to put up with our ignorance. Who wants to lay-up in bed with a clueless and illiterate child?
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If we don’t recognize these facts, we're gonna continue to be shot and killed by rogue cops for a broken tail light, or while watching television in our own homes. We need the knowledge and focus to gain political clout. That is the one and ONLY way to deal with White Supremacy, to become a formidable force in society - ask the Jews, they found out the hard way. So we need to pull up our pants and stop trying to play make-believe.
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The very same brilliance that went into the making of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha, can also be applied to science, politics, and engineering. So we need to get it together, and make knowledge the new “soul”.

.

WE NEED TO GET RID OF THIS KIND OF STUPIDITY

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
.
Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.