Forum
Dead 92- Year-Old Ex-Slave Knew More
Than Many Live Ph.D. Blacks In 1993
With tears streaming down hi$"face, 92
year-old "Daddy" Dunn, bom a slave in Mis
souri, ran from one side of his enclosed porch
to the other, shouting, "Glory, Glory Hallelu
jah! His soul goes marching on."
JHe was delivcrmg to us kids his annual'
lecture on Abra
ham Lincoln,
John Brown and
the Civil War.
He was singing
"The Battle
Hymn of the
Republic** as
"Forescore and seven years ago, our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that All Men Are Created Equal."
By that time he was shouting at the top of his
voice. Hear me: Reme mbe7~this - that All
?
MINORITYTmPORT
By JAMES E. ALSBROOK, Ph.D.
best he could.
"As He died to make men holy, let us die to
make men free," he screamed through his
tears. I glanced at my mother who had come to
take us home for lunch, and she was crying,
too.
By then, "Daddy" Dunn was so^engrossed
in his message and so overcome by*^the emo
tion of his own oratory that he fell ttfte knees
as if in prayer. We kids waited respectfully for
him to rise, and he finally labored to his feet.
"Daddy" Dunn was illiterate, but he had
an excellent memory even at 92 years old. He
was a small man, barely five feet tall and
weighing probably about 1 10 pounds. His head
was completely bald but his long, white beard
reached almost down to his waist He always
had a pencil and paper in his shirt pocket even
though he could neither read nor write. He
would ask people to write things down for him
and he would bring them to our house for my
mother or grandmother to read or interpret. We
kids remembered that he was always accompa
nied and protected by a very large and durly
dog that was almost as big as "Daddy." No one
bothered the tiny, well-meaning Dunn.
But we remembered "Daddy" more for his
ability to hold the attention of people with
whom he talked.
"Some say Mr. Lincoln freed us slaves
because he had to," Daddy" would say always
on February 12 and anytime he became
inspired. We kids had heard these same words
"repeatedly si nce~we were toddlers. "But in
186^Mr. Lincoln told us better," he continued. ,
"In two sentences he told the whole world
everything."
Raising himself up to his full but short
height, "Daddy" would clear his throat, look
direSt'iy htto otir childish eyes and begin,
Men Arc Created Equal." These words seem to
put "Daddy" into trance, for he would walk
around the room, point to each one of us chil
dren and shout to each individual, "You are
equal, You Are Equal, You Are Equal, You
Are Equal, You Are Equal."
"But there is more, "Daddy" would con
tinue after regaining some of his composure.
"Mr. Lincoln said also at Gettysburg that
'Now were are engaged in a great civil war
testing whether that nation or any other nation
So conceived and so dedicated can Lond
Endure.' In other words, this great man was
saying that the war tested the life of a nation
that was Conceive In Liberty and dedicated to
the proposition that all men were created
equal." With the tone of triumph in his voice,
"Daddy" would declare that the Civil War was
fought to free the slaves and therefore black
people were now eaual to white people.
Before World War II, in Kansas, every
school cjiild had to learn and recite Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address and prizes were given for
the best "declaration."
Another one of "Daddy"heroes was the
great martyr, John Brown, whose statue today
sits about 10 or 15 feet high in Quindaro,
Kansas, a black community founded more than
100 years ago just northwest Kansas City,
Kansas. "Daddy"would dramatize the gun bat
tle at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and tell
how the sons of Brown were killed by bullets
coming from the guns of men led by Robert E.
Lee, the Confederate general who led the battle
to continue slavery.
I wish I could bring "Daddy" Dunn back
to life today. His messages and race loyalty
would be most instructive for many Black and
White socalled "educators" and "leaders."
Riot Prevention: Stop Racism
During the last several weeks there have
been numerous speculations about whether or
not the spring and summer of 1993 will wit
ness a repeat of urban riots in the United States
similar to the Los Angeles "uprising of 1992."
Lest we forget this year marks the 25th
anniversary of the Kemer Commission Report
on Civil Disorders. Although the Kemer Com
mission concluded in 1986 that "Our nation is
moving toward two societies, one black, one
white - separate __________________
and unequal," the
persistence of
civil disorders or
riots in the 1990's
is symptomatic of
the nation's
refusal to deal
with one of the
basic causative
low-income housing with the help of non
profit organizations.
Today the reality is not limited to a black,
and white situation. Instead of two societies
separate and unequal, in the United States as
we move towarfi a new century there are mul
tiple societies, all separate and all unequal due
to racial and economic discrimination and
exploitation.
Racism is still the fundamental problem!
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR.
factors: racism.
On this occasion we are grateful that the
columnist, Anthony Lewis, reminded readers
of The New York Times of a quote from Jus
tice Thurgood Marshall's opinion in the con
troversial Bakke case of 1978. In that case
Marshall concluded, "In light of the sorry his
tory of discrimination and its devastating
impact on the lives of Negroes, bringing the
Negro into the mainstream of American life
should be a state interest of the highest order.
To fail to do so is to ensure that America will
remain forever a divided society."
In Washington, D.C, the Milton S. Eisen
hower Foundation has just released another
national study on the urban situation. Similarly
the Eisenhower Foundation emphasized that
the substance of the Kemer Commission's ear
lier findings are "more relevant today than in
1968, and more complex, with the emergence
of multiracial disparities and growing income
segregation." Dr. Lynn Curtis, editor of the
Eisenhower study said that the emphasis today
should be on job training and various commu-*
nity development projects as a strategy to pre
vent the recurrence of urban riots in the nation.
The Eisenhower report outlined the fol
lowing recommendations to the Government
as remedies: focus on inner-city unemployed
youth, particularly those who have been mar
ginalized and discriminated against because of
race and socioeconomic status; a focus on drug
abuse education, treatment and prevention;
priority spending for a ten-year period concen
trating on improving the quality of life for
inner-city residents and the focus on providing
Much of the poverty that people of color
encounter in the United States is a consistent
function and resultant of institutionalized
racism.
It is worth pointing out that the recent
studies on this critical national problem have
failed to go as far as the 1968 Kemer Commis
sion which identified racism as the major
causative factor. Until the nation comes to
grips with this serious social dysfunction riots
and other forms of civil disorders will surely
reoccur.
We believe that President Clinton should
take the initiative to call upon all Americans to
place at the very top of the national agenda the
elimination of racism in al of its hideous
forms. As this society rapidly becomes a mul
tiracial society quantitatively, it is increasingly
urgent for this society to become multiracial
and multicultural qualitatively.
Again the confession of Anthony Lewis is
noteworthy: "Few white Americans want to
think remedial strategy was to arouse racial
fears, and then use them as a reason to do
nothing. But a divided America, damaging to
whites as to blacks, will continue until we face
the issue of race."
President Clinton has the fresh opportu
nity to begin to erect a bridge across the
nation's racial divide. But this bridge must lift
all of those oppressed at the bottom and con
front the sin of racism straightforwardly.
Beyond racial fear and polarization, we must
demand racial justice for all without reserva
tion. Anything less will be utterly insufficient.
BY G . B .
T R U D E A U
SPEAK
ING OF
WHICH.
MR.
POM-POM!
mmBiUr
UP AGAIN'2
STILL ON A
TZAR, MR POM
5~Z-/ POM*
HEY'
THE
NR. A.
NEVER
RESTS'
THE 6UN
CONTROL NUTS
KEEP TRY I NO 7D
3-'i
UJOUJ .. ARE
m SAFE YET?
N07 YET TRAGI
CALLY, MANY
CHILDREN ARE
C77/J. IIN- \
SO, MR, PUM'
PUM, UJHAT SORT
OF YEAR HAVE YOU
HAVNG -
QUIET. LI KB
MOST YEARS
IN A TYPICAL* YEAR, ABOUT
20, 000- PLUS ORP/NARY FOLKS
GET POPPBP ? OR POP THEM
SELVES. NORMALLY, NO ONE
MUCH CARES,,.
sr. J
BUT WHEN A JOHN LENNON
GOE&POWN, OR A JIM BRAPY,
OR A RONALP REAGAN t THEN
FOR66J ABOUT IT! YOU G?T
ANT/ -GUN BILLS
OUT THE KAZOO!
SO CELEBRITY
SHOOTINGS ARE
A HEADACHE*
\
MAJOR A
TOP NAME
CAN COST US
MIUIONS!
THAI'S 0eCAUSe\
youcwrroz
CHtSTRfilBA
MMJON POST
CARP&OV&
N/OHT!
TRue ocie/v
H&VPC&SBM
T0HAVBA6IFT
FORGETTlNGtM
M&siosrrup<\
GQOP0OY, SfX Am !
THAT 5 IT1 NOW, ROU
0V5KANVBB6!
NOWR?
POSTCARDS'
pieezB!
(smo/ssff
The Winston-Salem Chronicle is the only
alternative news source in this1
community.
Winston-Salem Chronicle
send your check or money order to:
Subscription Dept
Winston -Salem Chronicle
Clip and Mail
P.O. Box 1636
Winston- Sn'em. N C. 27102
Name
City, Str*- Zip
2 years $4095 1 year $3072
Add *5?? for delivery outside Forsyth County, N C.
Address
Phone i
)