This week’s letter may get people angry. If more Black people read The Augusta Press, other than Moses Todd who has earned my respect simply for his willingness to voice his opinion, etc., etc., I might see an active discussion in the comments section. Heck, the comments may even need to be monitored or moderated, but that won’t happen.
There are two reasons, I believe, there will be no active discussion or any need for moderation. Firstly, The Augusta Press is a primarily right leaning publication, Politically, socially and fiscally. Therefore, our readership is primarily cut from the same cloth with the exception of those Democrats with the wisdom to listen to what the opposition is saying and thinking. I applaud liberals and/or Democrats who desire to read and comprehend some positions taken by political conservatives who may be Republican, Libertarian or simply Independent in their convictions.
Secondly, the subject matter is like the third rail on a Chicago electric subway to a White person. The third rail on a subway supplies the electricity to power the cars. To touch the third rail means almost instant death through electrocution. Politically, the third rail is a highly controversial and emotionally charged issue that is best left untouched by politicians and public figures. A person who “touches” this type of issue risks political ruin, public scorn, social tags such as Racist like how touching the literal third rail results in electrocution.
Smart people avoid such discussions. I never claimed to be a smart person, so….
I guess this all started with my views on Black History Month. All during my education as a White boy, on account of me being White, I heard about amazing Black people doing amazing things. I also read and heard of White Americans doing amazing things during the early years of our nation. Can’t be sure if first, but Harriet Tubman with the Underground Railroad intrigued me. Maybe because I thought Augusta had a school named after her. I later learned I was mistaken, but it didn’t matter to me.
Then I remember learning about George Washington Carver. Pretty sure he was born after slavery was abolished, but being a Georgian where peanuts, soybean and cotton was all I ever saw growing in south Georgia fields, I learned about all of the applications for those crops and admired his ingenuity. It came clearer into focus when President Carter, a better farmer than president, was elected.
In my college days, I enjoyed the writings of W.E. B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglas. I read one book, of which I can’t recall the title, where Douglass expressed his disapproval and difference in Booker T. Washington’s ideas of the best way to educate emancipated Blacks. Later in life, I read Malcolm Little’s book titled “X.” During this time I listened to Martin Luther King, Jr’s speeches.
I say all of this to give my assessment on “Black History Month.”
Let me start by quoting MLK Jr in his historic “I Have a Dream” speech that was first spoken in 1963.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
That dream where people are not judged by the color of their skin totally refutes “Black History Month.” Having a Black History Month elevates people BY the color of their skin and is wrong as denigrating a person by the color of their skin! It is impossible to right past wrongs with committing wrongs of the same type in the opposite direction.
In an interview between Morgan Freeman and Mike Wallace, Freeman said, in essence, I find Black History Month ridiculous. You’re gonna regulate my history to a month? I don’t want a Black History Month, I don’t want my history relegated to one month. Black history is American history!
Freeman goes further to say one way to reduce racism is to stop talking about it. His point is not lost on me. I approach no one with attitude, until they give reason
This interview is available on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L5mYyvf2UE
Freeman goes on to say we perpetuate racism by talking about it. If I continuously see someone as a Black person, and they see me as a White person, we start any interaction with a prejudice.
So, back to Morgan Freeman’s response, and Denzell Washington’s take on this whole race thing. I am a person and you are a person.
I am not a Scottish American White man. I am an American. Someone different may not be an African American parson. Just an American person.
Black History Month is as ridiculous as would be White History Month, Redman History Month or Oriental History Month. We are letting the ruling class separate us by skin color.
We all, Black, White, yellow, brown, have contributed to the building of this great Nation. We should all be proud of our ancestor’s contribution to this One great nation under God.
To quote Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
