On January 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln legally and officially declared an end to slavery in this Country and set all Blacks ‘free’ in this Nation.
According to recorded information, ending slavery was always a primary goal of the Lincoln administration. However, the American public was slow to embrace the idea. In a shrewdly penned letter to Horace Greeley, editor of The New York Tribune, Lincoln masked his goal of ending slavery by making it subservient to the cause of preserving the union:
“... My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.
“What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
“I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.”
Each February, we try to pile all of our accomplishments over the past four hundred years into twenty eight days. All who know me know that I strongly oppose this.
Not the History part of it, but the fact that we’re expected to intelligently teach our children about their History in that short period. To me, it’s as though accomplishments by our forefathers, all those years, are cast aside as unimportant. That inference has trickled down through the years to our children and they, too, consider their past as unimportant.
That is why I advocate ongoing Saturday schools that would be used to teach our History in a thorough and comprehensible manner. That is the only way we can have a positive impact on our own economic futures.
You might ask, “How do I tie weekend workshops to our economic futures?” Because the workshops are meant to educate our young children, and inform young adults, on who their forefathers were; how they got from where they were then to where we are today; what they must do to have a positive economic impact on their own futures; and how with an economic plan firmly in place, they can improve their day to day status. They will learn how to not only invest in themselves independently, but to invest in and support each other, as well.
On being educated about their History, our young people can then assess the past, understand today, and plan for the future. They will have gained the tools to build their own super highway to cultural success. They will learn to place their economic and spiritual futures above the triviality of sports and demeaning music. No, I am not saying music is demeaning; however, I am saying the quick money, senseless lyrics that are passing for music today, is demeaning. There are great voices out there that are being destroyed by being pushed, dragged and shoved onto the current trend. The same is true with musicians. Personally, I truly miss the Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington of yester year. I can remember a time when almost every Black child could play the piano or carry a sustained note. (I was NOT one of them.) But I miss them.
Talent wise, we used to lead the pack. Now we are following it. With education, I know that we can turn this trend around, place our priorities on a higher level as we march into the future
The hoax that has been perpetuated upon us is that sports should be used as a character builder. In truth, sports is being used to develop an endless stable of sports superstars to make BIG money for gamblers, major corporations, big time drug dealers, gun dealers and all sorts of unsavory characters who are heavily invested in the prowess of our young men and women.
They use the lure of big money to make it tempting and lucrative for them. They are robbing them of their education by drafting them out of high school and college. They hook them on steroids and drugs to keep them playing. Many of them are leaving the sports arenas in shame. Look at Michael Vick, Marion Jones, just to name a couple; however, there are many more. The quick money is gone and left them broke and facing or serving jail time. Their sponsors are gone on seeking more victims. They are left as footnotes in History.
In my opinion, when you see a major sports figure or music star leave his profession in disgrace, it is because he or she allowed themselves to be tempted by the lure of big money, setting themselves up for blackmail later on; or they wouldn’t ‘play ball’ with those who sought to control them.
This is no different from the slave masters having been compensated for their loss through the payment of a massive sum of $993,406.35 in 1862 to relinquish their slaves. And you wonder how the rich got rich. Now they are getting rich off the new slave: The sports superstar, their drug addiction and other covert criminal activities.
Through education we can help them discover that the people with the money are the ones who are shipping the drugs into this country and planting it in their neighborhoods making them consumers and salesmen in one fell swoop; and through these transactions, they will eventually end up in prison. It’s a never ending cycle, and is likened to the snake feeding on its own tail.
We must take control of our own destiny. We can only do this with education. With education, we would see fewer of our young people incarcerated. They, themselves do not realize that they are creating a separate economy through their actions, and they are not the ones profiting from it. I am speaking of the privatizing of this country’s prison systems. They are being run by major corporations who are being paid high dollars to administer them. These same corporations are heavily invested in every aspect of our lives, except helping our children with a quality education. Yes, young people, your drug use and other criminal activities are all putting money into the pockets of major corporations.
We can assure ourselves a voice in this systems political process through the education of our youth. Through education and workshops we can address those problems unique to our communities across the country. For too long, we have allowed others to make decisions affecting our lives, without our input. We need to come to realize that we do not need a ‘leader’ to succeed. We are no longer tribal. We can strongly hinder that concept by taking control of our lives through education, planning and strategy.
Integration into mainstream society did not mean that we had to leave our cultural identity behind, or leave our hopes and dreams by the wayside to pick up someone else’s. It simply meant that we were entitled to all the rights and privileges afforded all others. After all, the Constitution does say: “Of the people, by the people and for the people.” WE are included in that people.
On January 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln legally and officially declared an end to slavery in this Country and set all Blacks ‘free’ in this Nation.