Foundations

In order for a nation, any nation, to be more cohesive the citizens’ must know the truth, all of it, in order to move ahead. Yes, there are different nationalities and ethnicities but at the end of the day, the question should be was I fair today? A fork, spoon and knife don’t look the same but they all serve the same purpose and fall under the title of cutlery. We look different and bring different experiences to the table but we all fall under the title of “human being”, what else should there be but the truth?

Being educated in this country means that we are schooled, from kindergarten to high school, of the history of this nation but it is, for all intent and purposes, lies. Why do I say they are lies? Because history favoring only one race or group while neglecting the others,is a lie. Look at the body, if one part is missing, one doesn’t see them as being whole, does one? Well, the same applies to history. There shouldn’t be an “ethnic” history month because every ethnicity had a hand in creating this nation but even more so, the ancestors of African-American citizens. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not siding with one or the other, fair is fair, equal is equal. The Underground Railroad couldn’t have been successful without the aid and abet of Caucasian citizens as Negroes were not homeowners. Many Caucasians have died supporting the cause of the Negroes, of which the most infamous was John Brown on Harper’s Ferry. Can the denial of the truth of African-Americans be as W.E.B. Du Bois stated in 1910? He stated, “How the facts of American history have in the last century been falsified because the nation was ashamed. The South was ashamed because it had fought to perpetuate human slavery. The North was ashamed because it had to call in the Black man to save the nation, abolish slavery, and establish democracy”. It is interesting that even now in the 21st century, we’re still hearing about the first “African-American” this or that. The words of Thurgood Marshall, when he argued Brown v. Board of Education in 1953 was, “Why, of all the multitudinous groups of people in this country, do you have to single out the Negroes and give them separate treatment? It can’t be because of slavery in the past, because there are very few groups in this country that haven’t had slavery some place back in the history of their group. It can’t be color, because there are Negroes as white as drifted snow, with blue eyes and they are just as segregated as the colored man. The only thing it can be is an inherent determination that the people who were formerly in slavery, regardless of anything else, shall be kept as near that state as possible”.

I'd like to share with you the ingenuity of the contributions of African-Americans that we all take for granted. The classics of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” were written by Alexandre Dumas, a Black Frenchman. Whenever you turn on the light, know that Lewis Latimer worked with Thomas Edison and he invented the first carbon filament. The term “the real McCoy” was termed for Elijah McCoy who invented automatic lubrication systems essential for the operation of steam-powered engines. For you drivers, as I don’t have a vehicle, when you come to a traffic light, know that it was invented by Garrett Morgan and Frederick McKinley Jones invented the air conditioner for vehicles. Benjamin Banneker constructed the first clock made entirely in America. Before Avon and Mary Kay, there was Madame C. J. Walker, who became the first female millionaire in the beauty industry. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the world’s first successful open heart surgery. Dr. Charles Drew was the first person to set up a blood bank. It was he who discovered that blood plasma could supplant whole blood in transfusions.

In every area of our lives, many of the inventions we utilize today were invented by African-Americans but that’s not acknowledged. Many of the “first” families’ children were cared for by African slaves who weren’t allowed to give their children the same amount of care. When the foundation is faulty, whatever is built upon it, is sure to crumble.