Posted on 02/01/2010 1:16:31 PM PST by Graybeard58
Created in 1926 by black historian, scholar, educator and publisher Carter G. Woodson, it began as "Negro History Week."
By 1976, it morphed into Black History Month -- a celebration of the contributions of blacks to America and their struggles to overcome.
From Africa to slavery. The Civil War. Jim Crow and lynchings. Sit-ins and marches. Brown vs. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act. Assassinations. A historic presidency.
With history yet to have its full say regarding President Obama, we interviewed a broad spectrum of his fellow Chicagoans and prominent visitors on what the month means to them and whether it's still relevant in 2010.
We'll bring you their thoughts throughout the month, beginning today with Operation PUSH's founder, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a two-time presidential candidate and arguably Chicago's most prominent civil rights leader.
Jackson said:
"There's no history quite like black history, and it's always an error when people confuse that history with any other group who came here from some distant shore. No one else came here as slaves, and it distinguishes African Americans from immigrants.
"We did not come here as immigrants. We came here as the commodity, and for many years, African Americans as commodities were more valuable than insurance or banking or land. No one else was designated three-fifths human in the U.S. Constitution. No other group required legal appropriation to obtain legal rights. No other group had to have anti-lynching laws passed, or the military take them to school, in Little Rock or Montgomery, or wherever.
"So, blacks have been steadily overcoming barriers for nearly 400 years, with varying degrees of break-throughs and overcoming. We've seen the most advancement, frankly, in the arts and in athletics, and now in politics.
"But while we have achieved against these odds, we remain number one in poverty, infant mortality, home foreclosures. We lack access to quality education, health care, technology, capital and credit. The national unemployment rate for white males is 9.5 percent, for black males, 19 percent. Of the 2.3 million Americans in prison, about 1.1 million are black, 500,000 are Latinos. So one sees evidence that patterns of institutional discrimination persist, that race remains a critical factor in the fabric of our nation's culture.
"Black History Month is more relevant now than ever before. Black history is the journey that made it possible for Barack Obama. He is the result of our struggles."
In a vulgar tirade caught on tape by Fox News, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he wanted to "cut his [Barack Obama's] nuts out" and he accused the fellow Chicagoan of "talking down to black folks" by giving moral lectures to African-Americans, source said Jackson's shocking quotes were picked up by a hot mic before an interview on health care in Fox's Chicago studio last Sunday
Get out the violin.
Yes, there were Africans who came here as free men and women and remained so. Jackson is full of it, and knows darn well Obama didn’t come out of the U.S. civil rights movement, no way no how.
First, for the millions of black Americans whose educational records aren't a top secret, national security mystery.
Second, for continuing to use the old 'N' word instead of the "new" 'N' word in their organization name.
And finally, for not paying Pimp Jesse be in any TV commercials for them.
Funny you mention it, I’m old enough to recall when the word Negro was absoultely not derogatory. A gentle Old Negro man taught me how to win at checkers, and I never could beat him even after I became a member of my university’s Chess Team.
As concise and thorough a smack down as I’ve seen in awhile.
Obama ‘is the result of our struggles’
Jesse:
With a good laxative, you wouldn’t have to struggle so hard to get that kind of “product.”
What evidence, Jess?
Pay off your loans, commit to pre-natal care, obtain a skill set, maintain a career, obtain insurance and don't commit any crimes.
Works every time its tried, Jess.
Our struggles are the result of Obama.
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