What legacy will Black America leave now?

opinioneditorials.com ^ | 2-7-03 | Mychal S. Massie

[SJackson]

It was Carl Jung who said, "We have let houses that our fathers built fall into pieces, and now we try to break into Oriental palaces that our fathers never knew."

I note this because February is Black History Month. And with it comes the obligatory school programs, speakers, special programming, displays, presentations, commercials geared towards Black viewers, selective remembrances, and pandering ad infinitum.

It is the history of brilliant Americans who left all of America a legacy of accomplishment and invention.

It is the history of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves and the founder of Black History Week, which became the herein mentioned.

Black History Month is the history of Garrett Morgan, the inventor of the first traffic light and the gas mask. He was the father of what we know today as "Intelligent Traffic Systems." Morgan established a tailoring shop which employed 32 employees and established the "Cleveland Call" newspaper.

It is a time to remember Percy L. Julian, who developed a way to remove and prepare soybean products such as cortisone, to treat arthritis, and an extract used in the treatment of glaucoma.

It is a time to recognize the work of Jane Wright, the former Director of the Cancer Research Foundation, who formulated mithramycin, a drug that has proved promising in fighting cancer.

We must also remember William A. Lester, Jr., a theoretical chemist who did research on the troubles of high-velocity molecular collisions, and was chosen to manage the National Resource for Computation in Chemistry.

Let us not forget James A. Harris, who helped to discover ruthforduim (atomic number 104) and hafnium (atomic number 105).

We cannot omit St. Elmo Brady who in 1916 became the first Black to earn a Ph. D. in chemistry.

We pay remembrance to James Durham born in 1762. Durham was the first regularly recognized Black physician in the United States. Born a slave in Philadelphia he purchased by a Scottish physician in New Orleans, who hired him to perform medical services.

Dare we forget Daniel Hale Williams the Black American surgeon who performed the first successful open heart surgery. The founder of Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891, he was also the only Black charter member of the American College of Surgeons.

William Alexander Leidesdorff must also be recognized. Born in 1810, the businessman and explorer became a merchant captain in New York, then New Orleans, and by 1841, in California. He became a wealthy cotton broker and later began sailing his ship from Hawaii to California bringing sugar from Hawaii, then returning there with animal hides.

He built the City Hotel and the first shipping warehouse in the San Francisco Bay area. Leidesdorff Street in San Francisco was named for this man, recognized as the first Black citizen of San Francisco.

History is replete with the legacies of Black men like Norbert Rillieux born 1806, an inventor and engineer whose patented inventions revolutionized the sugar refining industry. Rillieux studied Egyptology and helped decipher hieroglyphics.

Men like Charles Clinton Spaulding born in 1874, a business leader who built the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company into the nation's largest Black owned business by the time of his death in 1952, when it was worth some $40 million.

T. Elkins who in 1879 patented the first refrigerating apparatus; William B. Purvis who was awarded a patent for a fountain pen in 1890 and had earlier been awarded patents for the paper bag; Sarah Boone who patented the ironing board in 1892.

Only the constraints of space limit my enumerating the legacy of the "houses that our fathers built" as Jung put it.

But today the legacy of those houses has "fallen into pieces." Today rather than seeing a careful enumeration and inclusion of history into history, we see a purposeful erosion of same.

The question that begs an answer is will Black America leave a fruitful, positive, legacy for the generations of tomorrow? Or will it leave a legacy of self segregation, rap/gangster wars, abortion and single family homes?

Will our legacy for tomorrow be that of undereducated children with dreams of athletic endeavor as a means of accomplishment, or will it be that of Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and Major Robert Lawrence, Jr.?

Or will it be that of Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, and the man called America's first Black President - who embodies all of the most reprehensible qualities heretofore attributed to Black men?

###

Mychal S. Massie is a community adviser to The Reporter editorial board and a columnist for The Reporter.

Send comments to: Mychalmassie@aol.com

[SJackson]

IMO,

Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, and the man called America's first Black President - who embodies all of the most reprehensible qualities heretofore attributed to Black men? ,

Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and Major Robert Lawrence, Jr.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

SJackson:

"IMO,

Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and Major Robert Lawrence, Jr."

---

If Black America would follow the likes of Rice, Thomas, Powell, and others......their lot in this nation would be much better off.

What hurts Black America is that so many have been lured and led by Socialists or Communists.

Few know that the founder of the NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois, was ardent commie who supported the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Even in the 1920's (when the US still did not recognize the USSR) DuBois frequently visited the USSR and met w Stalin.

The Socialist/Communist leanings of the NAACP has been so destructive to Black America. Had they followed the likes of Booker T Washington and others....it may have been a different outcome

[Kip Lange]

Few know that the founder of the NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois, was ardent commie

You just have to read in-between the lines in Souls of Black Folk...and of course let's not forget that one of DuBois' missions was to tear down and generally "Uncle-Tom" (hey, at least give him credit, back then it was sorta original) Booker T. -- reading Up From Slavery right after any DuBois offering is always refreshing. Of course, Booker T. is *still* taught in schools as the "Uncle Tom" and DuBois as the "considerate intellectual"...I will say that DuBois writes well and makes several salient observations, but his solutions are ultimately divisive, typical, us-vs-them crap...precursor to Jackson, if you wish, although putting them in the same category demeans DuBois. (seriously :p)

[Minutes]

I don't like the idea of Black History Month. Period.

History starts now, and everyone is involved. No culture or race's history is more important than the other's. Black history is considered so important that we get a whole month of it thrown in our faces and we're told to 'Celebrate Black History'...every February, every year!

Why isn't Chinese History or Indian History considered as important? Didn't those cultures and races contribute anything to the history of the world?

[ARCADIA]

"...Or will it leave a legacy of self segregation, rap/gangster wars, abortion and single family homes?"

Should single family homes read "single parent homes?"

I agree with the tone of the article. It is better to have tried and failed, then to give up hope, and submit to the manipulations of the likes of Clinton and Jackson.

[IronJack]

The "history" Blacks choose to celebrate speaks volumes about the culture they believe they own. Is it the enlightened, progressive successes of champions like Justice Thomas, Ward Connerly, Thomas Sowell, etc., or is it the Me Too moneygrabbers and scab-pickers like Rev Jesse and Rev Al?

Some Blacks have overcome the harshest obstacles to make phenomenal successes of themselves. Do Blacks celebrate those people or the pretensions of the mediocre?

[Xenalyte]

Should single family homes read "single parent homes?"

I think so. A "single-family" home is a stand-alone house, as opposed to (say) an apartment building, or "multi-family" housing.

[Chi-townChief]

Major Robert Lawrence, Jr. was a graduate of Bradley University where I went to school so we knew about him being an astronaut in training. However, when this would come up in conversation, many people I've talked to, including blacks, were totally unaware of this and almost vehement in their denial of it.

[Nip]

When it comes to Black History I have but one question…

Why do we continue to practice segregation?

If you totally concentrate the study of any subject into one small period you are segregating it from the rest of your life.

If our goal is to fully integrate our society and celebrate the greatness of all of us, shouldn’t the great players in our history who happened to be Black (African-American, or what ever the latest buzz word is) be celebrated in the correct historical time and place? This would clearly show that they and their race have been a strong threat that has been woven into our history since before we had one. This, IMHO, is much more important that saying here - you can have your 28 days on the center stage, but don't ask for more. Which is a more accurate display of their contributions - 19 days of study or a thread that clearly runs through your studies for 9 months?

Their achievements are as great, well actually greater, than most of us and yet the liberals actively insult their achievements 11 months out of every year by ignoring them.

[Kip Lange]

Couldn't this be said of all of us, black or white? Everyone has the temptation to subvert to their baser instincts. The problem with current black culture is that they're literally having their baser instincts shoved down their throats (or held up as virtues) *at the interest of the Dems* who would like to continue to keep the "us-vs-them" mindset very much alive so they don't have to worry about their black vote (they're *just* starting to get real nervous about the hispanic vote :p). Blaming other people for your personal problems is ALWAYS the easy way out. Not every person, black or white, takes the route. I applaud the few blacks who have the strength to break out of the vicious circle and become free-thinkers; Jackson et al practice neo-slavery -- *thought*-slavery. A reprehensible and disgusting practice.

[staytrue]

single family homes?

computer spell checkers are no substitute for a human proof reader.

This should read "single parent homes"

[doberville]

Well, in the interest of equality and fairness, I suggest:

White history month

Native American History month,

Asian History month

Immigrants to American History month

Illegal Immigrants to America month

Canines in America History month

Down's Syndrome History month

Tourette's Syndrome Month

Bipolar History month

Retired American Veterans History month

Present Veterans History month

Deceased American History month

Presently Alive American History month

Those Who Only Appear to Be Alive History month

Brain Dead American History month

American History Month as presented by non-NEA history month

This is only a start. We can include other deserving Americans as they occur to us.

[Sonny M]

Sad but true story, I know a teacher who was asking her class, "why do be have a black history month". One boy raised his hand and said "because they only did one month worth of stuff, while we get the whole year for everything we did". The boy wasn't racist, and the teacher did not tell the principal (the kid was in second grade, and this NYC, he'd probably be suspended). She told me she then realized how divisive this whole multiculteralism is, and how, she never realized, that people interpret things in different ways.

[serinde]

"If our goal is to fully integrate our society and celebrate the greatness of all of us, shouldn’t the great players in our history who happened to be Black (African-American, or what ever the latest buzz word is) be celebrated in the correct historical time and place? "

I agree with this statement. When I was in school, we were told about only two black inventors (that I can recall) - Booker T. Washington and the guy that invented plasma separation (and died on a hospital steps using his technique but wouldn't admit him because he was black).

I think units about different topics (eg, medicine, space, etc) could and should include black (or hispanic, or asian, or whatever) leaders in those fields whenever the unit occurs in the school year, not just during a single month focused only on one group.

[NMFXSTC]

I ask one thing:

Of all the names mentioned and contributions made, how many black kids between 12 and 21 would actually know any of these citizens OR the contributions they made?

To ensure that things be decided without regard to race, creed, color, sex, or national origin, we insist that nothing be decided except according to race, creed, color....

[Sonny M]

To be honest with you, one of the reasons I would never want to be a teacher, is because, everything that is taught is then contradicted. We tell kids, don't judge by color or religion, etc, then we tell them, but do judge by color and religion and so on. They see favoritism. What message do you send to a minority, if they haven't experienced discrimination, but are told, that due to discrimination, they need preferences. They become either racially paranoid, or feel entitled, or feel inferior or all of the above. Just as bad, the message sent to white kids, is that even though you didn't do anything wrong, somone else did, you have to pay the price, or that because your white, no matter what, you'll be okay and succeed, but if you were a minority, you'd fail. This will either give kids a feeling that minorities are like the mentally retarded, or cause resentment, since they feel the penalty for things they didn't do.

[Minutes]

Exactly. Like Nip says....Why do we continue to practice segregation? And since we seem to be doing just that, then every group should be allowed on the list.

Sonny M..... I have a feeling that the grade 2 kid heard that "They only did one month worth of stuff" at home. Kids that age don't really understand what a month is, yet. I've heard that line numerous times.

But, that's the problem. Because Black History Month exists, people tend to make fun of it. I can't see why it can't be taught where it belongs in the timeline. If the children are studying Sweden 1765 - 1776, and a Black did something remarkable during that time - by all means, teach it.

[Sonny M]

To be honest with you, when I was in the 2nd grade, I couldn't really understand time frames yet either. The kid probably did learn it at home.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

Black history month = white guilt + appeasement.

It's really that simple. Same with MLK day. There is no other national holiday named after another great American. There can be no other explanation except guilt and appeasement.

[foreverfree]

bump