chknltl

chknltl's Journal

February 13, 2016

So I just now exercised my 2nd Amendment right to defend my home...

Sadly, the fly did not survive the encounter.

(Rest assured, I will exercise the greatest of control over my 'inner 6 year old' and refrain from testing this gadget on any bug other than those pesky flies).

February 13, 2016

Why is it called the 'White' House?

on edit: (After posting this OP fellow DUers who knew much more than I on this topic offerd up valuable additions/contradictions. It seemed prudent to leave this up instead of self deleting, please consider reading what they have written below).

If you would have asked me I would have responded with, "Well because it's white of course", but just now while watching Professor Clarence Lusane on Thom Hartmann's 'Conversation With Great Minds' I learned that there is a bit more to how we came to know it as the White House.

I am paraphrasing Prof. Lusane here but this is close to how he put it to Thom just now:

'Shortly after Teddy Roosevelt became President he invited Booker T. Washington to the Presidential Mansion. This outraged much of the south. Worse the Roosevelt daughters were in attendance for dinner so having a black man dining in the Presidential mansion with white women brought about outrage all across our nation. This national brouhaha forced President Roosevelt to back up and declare that this would not ever happen again. Then Roosevelt issued a directive to his secretary to name the Presidential Mansion the White House. For many at the time this was viewed as a concession but for many southerners the 'White' in White House was interpreted as race.'

Hartmann and Prof. Lusane went on to discuss how slaves were once housed in the White House, how much of it was built by slave labor, how millions of visitors yearly never get to hear this history. I did not know this history, I would wager that most folks don't know this history.

Profile Information

Name: chris chick
Gender: Male
Hometown: Between Mt. Rainier and McKenna Wa.
Home country: Hanging in there but just barely
Current location: I am right here! (location subject to change depending on the weather).
Member since: Thu May 19, 2005, 07:43 PM
Number of posts: 10,558

About chknltl

I am a fulltime chaperone to an aging pit-bull. She loves pigs-ears purchased from Stewerts Meat Market, long walks anywhere, feeding time and tummy rubs. We both enjoy disc golf, (golf with baskets instead of holes and fancy frisbees instead of golf balls), but for entirely different reasons. Fortunately for all she never acquired a taste for frisbees but she is a sucker for thrown rope-toys and balls. Her goal in life is to see an end to the nuisance that causes some toys to squeak when pressed by her chaperone. After the squeak has been eliminated, the toy is safe to be played with by anyone else because regardless of price it holds no further interest for her. Lastly: that is my real last name which means I can get away with calling myself a card carrying chick!