Thursday I once again performed on the program Conversations Across Time, on PhillyCAM (Verizon channel 29, Comcast channel 66) the show where we impersonate historical figures discussing today’s issues; this time we discussed the Electoral College, and the presidential election of 1876, where Samuel Tilden (Democrat) had more popular votes than Rutherford B. Hays (Republican, whom I portrayed), but there was a dispute in the electoral votes. Due to a backroom deal, southern Democratic House members voted to allow Hayes to become President, and in return, the US troops were withdrawn from Louisiana and South Carolina, states that had Reconstruction governments run by Republicans. This left the newly-freed Blacks vulnerable to their former masters. The federal troops enforced the reconstruction laws, but the troops were later used to put down strikes by workers starting to organize into union, and revolts of Native peoples.

The great thing about PhillyCAM is it empowers neighborhood people by helping them produce their own shows and get their own message across, thereby circumventing the corporate media, which tries to make a quick buck off of low-income culture.

To see the show, please look up conversationsacrosstime.com.