Drkottaway posted about dancing and offhandedly mentioned that this guy played at her wedding and, even more offhandedly, mentioned his TED talk. Daryl Davis is a musician, writer, and actor but, more than that, has a great story to tell about meeting the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
This is old news, so maybe you aren’t as ignorant as I. But if you haven’t heard his story, listen to this TEDx Talk.
Beyond the 20 minutes of the talk is his book “Klan-destine Relationships”, in which he relates a series of discussions with a variety of Klan leaders. It turns out the Klan has more factions than the Christian church and several of them claim to be the one true Klan. Davis tells you more than you might care to know about how the Klan continues to split into ever-more factions and how they name their various leaders (e.g. Grand Dragon, Imperial Wizard, Grand Giant). At the same time, he will fascinate you with his willingness to meet face-to-face with Klan leaders in order to get to know them as people and find common ground where you might have thought it couldn’t possibly exist.
He met them where they were – in their homes, their bars, their clubhouses, their rallies, and their prisons. As a result of his talks with Klansmen, some have left the Klan.
And for his piano bona fides, note that he studied with Pinetop Perkins (who played with Earl Hooker, and Muddy Waters after Otis Spann left the band) and Johnnie Johnson (Chuck Berry’s pianist) and both are his godfathers; and he has a music performance degree from Howard University.
Without a lot of fruit available in the winter in these parts, winter pies are a different animal. Two pies made the cut this year. One has a back story and the other came to me like a Great British Bake-off Technical Challenge, meaning the recipe was incomplete. It took multiple tries to get it where I wanted it.
Riding a bike burns calories. You need to replace them somehow…and you need some other interests in life. Why not bake?
Carson Gulley’s Fudge Bottom Pie
Carson Gulley (1897-1962) was the head chef for the University of Wisconsin from 1926-1954 after being recruited from a northwoods resort. He hosted an early TV cooking show, possibly the first with an African American host. When he was unable to find housing near the university, they built him an on-campus apartment. He eventually integrated a Madison, WI neighborhood after the co-operative association voted to allow him to buy land. It took over 20 years to find a place to build a house. He became active in the NAACP and was instrumental in the eventual passage of a fair housing ordinance.
Carson Gulley’s TV set. Image from UW-Madison archivesCatering van image from RecollectionWisconsin.orgAnd you thought TV cooking shows and food trucks were recent inventions;)
His fudge bottom pie became legendary and here is the recipe:
Crust – preheat oven to 350 degrees F 1 cup graham cracker crumbs ¼ cup powdered sugar ⅓ cup melted butter (salted butter works fine here)
Mix ingredients together, press into an 8″ pie pan and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees (F). Set aside while you make the filling. (The easiest way to make graham cracker crumbs is in a food processor. It takes slightly less than one sleeve of crackers to make a cup.)
Filling 2 cups milk 1 cup sugar 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 4 eggs, separated 1 Tablespoon gelatin, softened in ¼ cup cold water (it usually comes in powdered form in the US) 1 ¼ oz baking chocolate (I increase this to 2 oz to make a thicker fudge layer) ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Heat milk in double boiler. Blend cornstarch with ½ cup of the sugar. Pour some of the hot milk into the sugar/cornstarch mixture to moisten well, then add it back to the milk in the double boiler. Separate eggs, beat yolks. Add some of the milk mixture to the eggs, beat again, then add this back to the milk mixture on the stove. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and smooth and it coats the spoon. Add the gelatin, stir in well to remove lumps, remove from heat and allow to cool. (I pour it into a bowl so my double boiler is available for the next step.)
Melt chocolate in double boiler. Add a cup of the hot custard to the chocolate. (I increase this to about 1 ½ cups for a thicker fudge layer.) Remove from heat and allow to cool. When chocolate is cool but not stiff, and the regular custard is cool, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar. When they hold soft peaks, gradually add the remaining ½ cup sugar and beat until stiff. Fold into the cooled plain custard.
Pour the cooled chocolate custard over the crust. Pour the custard/egg white mixture over the top. (It will stand up pretty high.) Refrigerate overnight, or at least several hours. To serve, top with whipped cream (it will now be a towering creation) and grate or shave chocolate on top. (I find a darkish chocolate [50-60% cacao) best, but use your own taste.)
Pumpkin-Pecan Pie with Bourbon Custard Sauce
This is said to have been “inspired by” Paul Prudhomme. I don’t know whose recipe it was. The recipe did not mention crust, nor a baking temperature. After multiple tries and finding the crust burning before the filling set, I tried it as a crustless pie and it worked. It also specifies different sizes of eggs for different parts of the recipe. I ignored that.
If you can’t decide whether to make pumpkin or pecan, or you find pecan pie a bit too sweet, this makes a good combo. And there is nothing like a bit of booze to cut through the sweetness. A cup of coffee wouldn’t hurt, either.
Pumpkin filling 1 cup pumpkin pureé (e.g. canned pumpkin, but you will not need the whole can) ¼ cup brown sugar 2 Tablespoons white sugar 1 egg 1 Tablespoon heavy cream 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (I find melting works better, as it is hard to blend the softened butter fully) 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon cinnamon 1 pinch of allspice 1 pinch of nutmeg (For those who need precision, try ⅛ tsp of each. If you do much baking, a nutmeg grater is a great purchase and it is easy to grate fresh each time for the best aroma.)
Blend the pumpkin and the sugars. Add the cream, butter, and spices. Beat the egg until frothy and stir in well. Set aside.
Pecan filling ¾ cup white sugar ¾ cup dark corn syrup (or syrup of your choice. I usually use a mix of dark corn syrup and maple syrup. You could use agave or rice syrup, or some light corn syrup in the mix. Use what you have. If you use molasses or sorghum, make sure you mix it with a sweeter syrup.) 2 eggs 1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 pinch (⅛ tsp) salt 1 pinch (⅛ tsp) cinnamon ¾ cup pecan pieces (don’t use pecan halves without breaking)
Mix the sugar and syrup. Beat the eggs and add to the sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients, pecans last.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Pour the pumpkin mix into a pie pan and level it. Gently pour the pecan syrup mixture on top. It may bubble over a bit while baking, so a pie drip pan will be helpful (or place pie pan on a cookie sheet). Bake until a knife inserted in filling comes out clean. Check it after 1 ½ hours. I have found 300-325º works best. It may take 1 ¾ hours but always check earlier.
Allow pie to cool while you prepare the custard.
Bourbon custard sauce 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter ⅓ cup sugar 1 egg 1 ½ teaspoons hot water ¼ cup heavy cream ¼ cup Bourbon (I discovered Scotch works fine) or other whisky
Melt butter in double boiler over gently simmering water. Beat sugar and egg together and add to the melted butter. Add the water and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. This takes about 7 minutes and you will wonder what this means until it suddenly becomes obvious. (If the water is boiling furiously you will end up with scrambled eggs instead of custard.) Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add cream and whisky. Mix well. Pour the custard over the individual pie slices to serve. You will have leftover custard. The alcohol has not been cooked off, so this will pack a punch. At room temperature this will be thin and pourable. Refrigerated, it will be thick enough to spoon.
I live in the state that imprisons a greater portion of its Black population than any other. One in 36 Black people are in prison. 42% of the prison population is Black, vs 6% of the population. Louisiana imprisons a greater portion of its overall population. 20% of all prisoners in the world are imprisoned in the US, while the US has 4% of the world’s population ([CNN].
Why am I telling you this in (ostensibly) a bicycling blog? Jarrett Adams was just featured in the Wisconsin Book Festival. Adams went to a party in a University of Wisconsin dorm during the summer after high school graduation. He had driven up from Chicago with two friends. At the party he smoked weed and had sex. A month later he was arrested for rape. He was convicted and sentenced to 28 years. One of his co-defendants was able to afford a lawyer. It was clear that no rape had occurred. The judge declared a mistrial. His charges were dropped. Adams and the third defendant were retried on lesser charges and convicted. Their defense was a “non-defense”. The public defenders thought the prosecution story was so full of holes that the jury would dismiss it out of hand; that, or they were too lazy or busy to do their jobs. They presented no witnesses, no defense, no summation. His co-defendant got 20 years. Jarrett got more because the judge overheard a conversation he had with his mother and aunt after his conviction. The judge didn’t think he showed the proper remorse.
Adams became known as a jailhouse lawyer. The other inmates called him “Li’l Johnnie Cochran-looking Mofo with the Glasses”. He helped other prisoners during disciplinary actions. As a result of his success rate, he was charged with inciting to riot and sentenced to 360 days in segregation. He was sent to the infamousSupermax prison in Boscobel WI. [The Supermax was built for the “worst of the worst”. All cells were segregation cells. The prisoners remained in their cells for 23+ hours/day with no human contact. Lights were never turned off. Heating, cooling, and ventilation were minimal. This is where they sent the guy who killed Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous mass murderer/cannibal of Milwaukee.] That was only one of his two stays there. The other was for allegedly conspiring to smuggle drugs into the prison. Both were trumped-up charges relying on “confidential informants”. No evidence was ever provided. The second stint was while his appeal was in the US District 7 Court of Appeals. He was actually in the Supermax when he learned that he’d won his appeal and would be released, exonerated of all charges. He was freed with the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a project of the University of Wisconsin Law School. While they primarily take cases based on DNA evidence, his case was compelling enough that they made an exception. He served ten years for a crime he did not commit.
After release, Adams tried to build a life. He entered a program for ex-cons to help them get back on their feet. He was dismissed from the program because he wasn’t an ex-con. While he served ten years, the record showed he had been convicted of no crime. If he were guilty, he could get help. Innocent, he was on his own. Catch-22.
Adams did put his life together. He entered community college, then a university, and eventually graduated from law school. He served in a clerkship in the US 7th District Court of Appeals, the same court that freed him. He studied abroad in Italy, China, and Great Britain. He is now licensed to practice before the bar in Wisconsin as well as other states. He works to free others who have been imprisoned unjustly.
I will admit I cried while I read this book. I was angry. I felt things I didn’t want to feel. I highly recommend “Redeeming Justice“, by Jarrett Adams (2021, Convergent Books).
Riding
I started the week with a ride in shorts. I suspect it was the last warm day of the year. I ended the week in below freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, and 15-20 mph winds.
When Richard Nixon declared, “I am not a crook”, we needed look no further than the vehemence of his denial to find the truth.
Likewise, when Amy Cooper said “I am not a racist”, we knew at once she is a racist. (Amy Cooper, for those who don’t recognize the name, is the woman who called police to tell them “An African American man is threatening my life”, knowing full well that a predictable outcome would be that man’s death at the hands of the police; and knowing full well that her claim was a lie and is documented on video.) We know that Lisa Alexander is a racist. She called the police because a Filipino man was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” in sidewalk chalk on the retaining wall of his house. Since this is a wealthy area, he clearly didn’t belong there. Only white people can be rich enough to live in Pacific Heights.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal (6/15/2020), a recent graduate of Monona Grove High School was in the school as a member of the football coaching staff. He was stopped in the hall by a police officer and a hall pass demanded. The coach responded that everyone in the school knew him. The officer is quoted as asking “what someone new would think about seeing ‘a big black guy’ walking around the building”. I suspect the officer doesn’t think he was being racist, merely acknowledging the possibility of racism in others. But if you care more about a white person possibly being made uncomfortable by the presence of a black person than you do about that black person, that’s racist. If it is the black person who needs to adjust/accommodate, that’s racism.
About 45-50 years ago I saw and heard U. Utah Phillips ,”the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest”, for the first time. He lived in Spokane, Washington, which has since become a stronghold of racists of the blatant variety. To paraphrase, Phillips admitted to racism and told us that anyone who denies being a racist is clearly a racist. To be a white person in the US (or anywhere on earth) and deny racism is like being a fish and denying water. It is the world in which we live. That both makes it hard to see and impossible to be separate from. But we are not fish. We can look for it within and without; and we can fight it within and without. We can live as anti-racists, not mere deniers of racism. When we say or do something racist, we can call it that; not a “mistake”, not “the wrong words”; and not claim that we can’t be racist because we have a black friend or co-worker.
While I can’t find video of Phillips talking about racism, here’s the next best thing:
Bicycling magazine ran an essay about racism in bicycling. That was the prompt for this entry. Responding to one of the racist comments wasn’t enough. The writer, the former Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is identified as an attorney and a gender non-conforming queer Black woman. She says “Bicycling cannot solve systemic racism in the United States. But systemic racism can’t be fixed without tackling it within bicycling.” Almost as interesting as the essay is the comments section, including “‘Systemic racism’ in America is a complete myth – as false as the claim that ‘people of color’ are being oppressed.” (As of this writing, 29 people have “liked” that comment.) Other commenters think discussing racism has no place in the world of bicycling. We should just talk about spending money on new stuff. Luckily, those comments are not going unanswered.
Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, to whom I often turn as a voice of reason, put it this way when talking about what to say and not say when you commit a racist act:
“I won’t insult your intelligence by saying ‘I am not a racist’ because I know I am. As a white person in a society where every institution is geared to advantage people like me, it is literally impossible for me to be anything else. In that, I am like a man in a male-dominated society. He cannot help being sexist, his good intentions notwithstanding. Saying he’s not sexist is like a fish saying he’s not wet.
“Many of us as white people struggle with that. That’s because we process racism as a loathsome character defect, when really, it’s the water in which we swim.
“No, the question is not whether we are racist, but what kind of racist we will be. Will we be the overt kind, whose behavior marks her from a mile away? In many ways, her very obviousness makes her the least dangerous.
“Will we be the racist in denial, who thinks that because he doesn’t use racial slurs and eats lunch with a black guy at work, he’s all good? He’s ultimately the most dangerous, because his racism is reflected in implicit bias but otherwise hidden, even from himself.
“Or will we be the racist in remission who knows good intentions are not enough, that he must consciously commit not simply to being non-racist, but actively anti-racist?“
Can someone help me out here? It seems that, by definition, to take up arms against one’s government is treason. I guess that the confederacy wasn’t trying to overthrow the US, just secede from it. But still, why would we name our military bases for the generals that took up arms against us? And why, years later, would our own president be opposed to changing those names? He has already said that he doesn’t like losers and he like veterans who weren’t captured. You’d think he wouldn’t want to name a bunch of military bases for a bunch of losers, but by my count, 10 US military installations are named for confederate generals. Of those, 6 surrendered, 2 were killed in battle, and 2 were captured – they all sound like losers to me by the president’s definition.
As for the title, I owe a debt to Lou and Peter Berryman for “(Your state’s name here)”.
Half-fast Cycling Club 