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Home > Archive > Chess forum > June 2005 > African-American Chess Hall of Fame
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African-American Chess Hall of Fame
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| Cleon Jones 2005-06-21, 3:31 am |
| I have noticed that not many of my fellow African-American brothers and
sisters are ever featured on the cover of Chess Life. I am not sure how many
blacks are members of Chess Life, however, I think that this issue needs to
be addressed.
As a former baseball player, I don't want to push the issue based on my
connections, but I think that it is fair to say that Al Sharpton would be
interested in seeing the discrimination that goes on in the USCF. When was
the last time an African-American was elected President of the USCF? How
many Directors have EVER been of black origin?? Certainly, Hispanics do not
count as black people.
Now I would like to see some progress on this issue before I call out the
cavalry and ask for help from the committed brothers and sisters in the
Movement. I would like to see colored faces on the covers of Chess Life, and
some acknowledgement of the great contributions of African Americans towards
the game of Chess. How many African Americans have been elected to the Chess
Hall of Fame? Time to start now.
I know that I have participated in several tournaments, and have even beaten
Sam Sloan, Tony Terrapin, and Gus Giraldi in the last tournament that I
participated in. My game was published in the Harlem Herald, however, they
do not seem to be able to find the article that analyzed the game. I won
second place, and a coupon for two nights with Tayler Kingstons's wife.
Back in those days, when I was playing baseball and living in a small room
in the clubhouse, I used to play with some of the greatest Chess Masters
from Queens and the Bronx. I played against Pepito Aguilar (The Eagle) who
was rated higher than Biff Pocaroba who I also beat. Luis Tiant was no
slouch either, and I beat him twice in the early 1970s. Sadly, these records
do not seem to be available online at the USCF website.
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| Ray Gordon 2005-06-21, 6:45 am |
| I'm supposed to believe that this is Cleon Jones?
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| etj718@aol.com 2005-06-21, 8:33 pm |
| Go check out the Chess Drum.A nice site dedicated to players of African
decent
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| etj718@aol.com 2005-06-21, 8:33 pm |
| www.the chessdrum.net
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| samsloan 2005-06-21, 8:33 pm |
| Cleon Jones wrote:
quote:
> I know that I have participated in several tournaments, and have even beaten
> Sam Sloan
In case anybody is wondering, I have never lost a tournament chess game
to anybody named Cleon Jones.
Sam Sloan
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| El Chapo 2005-06-29, 3:34 am |
| "Cleon Jones" <CleonJones@newyorkmets.com> wrote...
quote:
>I have noticed that not many of my fellow African-American brothers and
> sisters are ever featured on the cover of Chess Life. I am not sure how many
> blacks are members of Chess Life, however, I think that this issue needs to
> be addressed.
>
> As a former baseball player, I don't want to push the issue based on my
> connections, but I think that it is fair to say that Al Sharpton would be
> interested in seeing the discrimination that goes on in the USCF. When was
> the last time an African-American was elected President of the USCF? How
> many Directors have EVER been of black origin?? Certainly, Hispanics do not
> count as black people.
>
> Now I would like to see some progress on this issue before I call out the
> cavalry and ask for help from the committed brothers and sisters in the
> Movement. I would like to see colored faces on the covers of Chess Life, and
> some acknowledgement of the great contributions of African Americans towards
> the game of Chess. How many African Americans have been elected to the Chess
> Hall of Fame? Time to start now.
Hee hee, you can't be serious. And you know what else is terrible, the
complete absence of Asian-Americans in the rap/hip-hop music industry.
I think we need to pass a law that requires the sport of chess to ensure
most of its members are black, just like the basketball and football
industries (i.e. a quota of 90%+ to reflect the 12% national black
population). A possible solution to this crisis is to force the gov't
to spend billions of dollars subsidizing chess education for the black
community, and to require a minimum quota of blacks in the chess
associations, not to mention mandating a certain quota of wins by
black chess players.
More likely, the oh-so-XXXXing-righteous-reverend Jesse Jackson will
whip up hysteria over the lack of black chess champions, but will rethink
his proposed boycott upon "donation" of a sufficient sum to his Rainbow
Coalition front operation.
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