5A
OPINIONS/The Charlotte Post
February 22, 1996
America is my home
By Rev. Thomas
McPhatter
SPECIAL TO THE POST
I felt it was important at this
time that I get one thing
straight, that is for me, and
what others may think of, or
about me. Or what they may
plan for me, or against me.
Know that I am America (not
that I am just an American, but
that I am America!) I was made
in America, by America, and for
America. Who else on this side
of God's green earth can truth
fully and honestly make such a
claim? Not the "native
American," as he or she is
called. They were here before
there was an America. Nor any
of the other citizens whose
ancestors migrated to this turf
we call America, my home. I am
America.
Hear me out, disagree if you
like, but here I take my stand.
After being brought through the
Middle Passage, many of my
ancestors became ill or seasick
and were fed to sharks. Then,
there were others unwilling to
submit to the cruelty and the
inhumanity of the slave master,
and jumped from the slave
ships committing suicide if the
chance was available. Rather
than go down into the holes of
slave ships with the filth, mag
gots, rats, disease and death,
and there remain in the dark
damp bottom for days and
weeks, and sometimes months,
before being auctioned off on
the block as property to the
highest bidder.
Black men had no women or
wives or families. Babies had no
mothers if they were old enough
to be weaned, separated from
their mothers and sold to the
highest bidder. The voung ones
who were able to work brought
the highest price. Why?
Because it would be easier to
make them over into submissive
clones of labor, to change them,
or to brainwash them and
transform their very beings.
To meet the demands of build
ing this coimtry, there was a
need for a special type of "ani
mal," as America thought my
ancestors to be. So they were
treated like animals who were
made the beasts of burden, the
drawers of water, tillers of the
earth, hewers of wood, the man-
servants and maid-servants,
without question or qualm and
without any compensation or
consideration. Always ready to
serve, to love, to give, and to
protect at the master's will, to
go where they were sent, and to
do what they were told or forced
to do. This meant that all of the
feehngs, institutions and means
of communication, once owned,
were ripped from them, leaving
that allows us to communicate
with the celestial, that is
always at work, the one with
whom we communicate mostly
at night, as the moon, the stars,
and the rh3rthm of silence, and
sweet disruptions by nocturnal
creatures that move about with
us.
And here we find ourselves
new creatures, in a strange and
new world. Physically no differ
ent from he who is our master
to whom I must look for my
existence, because he has me
chained.
Having gone through a new
type of spiritual middle pas
sage, I feel a new revelation and
it is this. I am not an African
American. I am an American of
them empty, open, defenseless
and alone.
The slaves, my ancestors, the
Americans, were not allowed to
have families, nor to speak in
their native tongue. If it were
attempted, they were unmerci
fully beaten or himg. The reli
gious practices they had known
were abolished. They were emp
tied of everything they had
known, except a silent faith in a
higher being who caused the
sun to rise in the morning and
to set in the evening. Who gave
them a moon, and stars at night
to wish on in some dark, quiet
place. That’s where the word
"soul," in our tradition, comes
from. That feeling transmitted
between each other, without
speech or touch that is born out
of gladness for one more day.
African descent,
so were my ancestors. I was
born in America. I have lived in
America all my life. I will die
and be buried in America, as
were my forebears. This is my
country, my land, my home I
have done what many others
have never done for this my
home. My labor built America,
and, with others, I have labored
and fought in wars to keep her
free. All of this is pursuant to
my being made in America, by
America, for America.
I reject the title of "Lift Every
Voice and Sing.” "Lift Every
Voice and Sing" was the Negro
National Anthem when we did
n't count, when the white man
allowed you to remain here in
America as a minority, and not
as a citizen who counts for
something. I also reject the title
of Black History or African
American History. We are
Americans, and any and all of
our achievements are American
history. We must take our
rightful place along with all
others who claim to have paid
the price to be included in
American history, a course that
all high school students are
required to study for a designat
ed number of semesters or
years. It is time that we stop
shooting ourselves in the foot.
Read the stanzas of "Lift
Every Voice and Sing," the
Negro National Hymn. I am a
North Carolinian and have been
hearing it for 70 years, and
singing it with vigor for more
than 65 years. Each time I hear
it, the hairs on my shoulders
rise up and I am filled with
tears of determination and
courage. However, as a patriot
and citizen soldier, the "Star
Spangled Banner" is our right
ful call to
courage, dedica
tion and patrio
tism. It is our
National
ithem. But just
expressive
nd meaningful
me is the song,
erica."
When you learn the Negro
National Hymn, you will see
how both speak of the same
nation, same land and expanse,
the same plan, service, labor,
dedication and commitment.
Yes, I am America, this is my
country. It is not what I want it
to be, or feel it can become, but
believe that I will continue to go
over to MCRD and hear colors
(the national anthem) played at
8 a.m. as often as my strength
allows, so help me God.
I’m not a flag-waver, but I
care for my country, and will
remain loyal to her, as should
all Americans. So here I am
today, as an offspring of my
ancestors who were "made" in
America, by America, for
America. And this descendency
has never ended in this country.
I am America.
Charlotte native the Rev.
THOMAS H. McPHATTER is a
retired Navy chaplain and
Presbyterian minister. He now
lives in San Diego, Calif.
Letters to ttie Editor
Abu-Jamal's brains didn’t merit death row
To some Mumia Abu Jamal is a cop killer; but to me me he's an
intellectual whose political beliefs have placed him on death row.
You must remember that we live in an oppressive and racist soci
ety. You should know it because many papers chose to print
mostly anti- Mumia views. For that reason, they should be called
Mumia Bashers' papers, not a people paper. I was in both court
rooms 253 and 653 last summer when Mumia and his lawyers
were seeking a new trial. The rigidity with which judge Albert
Sabo treated the case convinced me that Mumia was framed.
I learned earlier on that this system has a legacy of lynching
any hlack man for the murder of a Caucasian; I also learned that
it has a legacy of assassinating and deporting those whose views
differ from the system’s point of views. Freedom of speech, in my
view, applies to those who think only the way the system expects
them to think.
If Mumia played brain dead like most of you in the mainstream^
and the black press, he probably wouldn't be where he's at today.
Jesus Christ once cried over Jerusalem because Jews were
killing prophets that were sent to advise them to turn away from
their evil ways. Bihlical historians report that Jerusalem was
later destroyed by invading armies.
This nation that has murdered millions of native Indians who
owned this land and exploited, tortured and killed millions of my
African ancestors and drowned thousands of Haitians coming to
these shores as a result of their nation being destabilized by this
and other imperialist powers will have to give account to the
Almighty for crimes committed against humanity.
- Ernst Ford
Philadelphia
AIDS information is much-needed
The writer is pastor at Present Day Ministries.
Thank you for the informative page dedicated to HIV/AIDS in
the Feb. 1 issue. I commend you and your staff for being on the
cutting edge of this issue and highlighting real people in such a
sensitive way. We need more issues like this. I hope this is a sign
of articles to come in 1996.
AIDS is the silent stalker in our community. I salute you for
taking the lead to keep us informed. Even though AIDS is 100
percent deadly, it is also 100 percent preventable. Keep up the
good work. You have taken news reporting to a new level in my
opinion.
- Gwendolyn Curry
Businesses responsible for criminal goods ‘
The writer is president of the Belmont Business Watch.
It is our responsibility to prevent the influx of goods which pro
mote crime in our communities, such as needles, pipes, scales,
roach clips and methanol. We need to hold the manufacturers
and wholesale distributors who knowingly sell products and con
ceal the fact that these products cannot legally be retailed in the
state of North Carolina.
We will have meetings to discuss methods on holding the manu
facturers and wholesalers responsible. The first was Feb 8. Two
additional meetings will be listed at a later date. All meetings
will be held at the Belmont Center at 700 Parkwood Ave.
- Roger Stewart
Charlotte
Chicago’s Goodman Theater and Marcus Garvey’s lasting legacy
By Conrad Worrill
SPECIAL TO THE POST
It was announced in the
Chicago press in late
December of 1995 that the
play "Black Star Line" would
open at the Goodman Theater
in Chicago on Jan. 22.
Immediately, upon reading
the articles that appeared in
the Chicago press announcing
the opening of this play, I
thought what was a white the
ater company doing producing
a play about one of the great
est Pan African/nationalist
leaders in the history of
African people in the Western
Hemisphere.
How ironic that one of the
great advocates of race first
and self-reliance for African
people throughout the world
now be showcased on the
stage of a white theater com
pany and financed through
white philanthropy and other
white financial sources.
My curiosity concerning this
play became quite intense.
Fortunately, I was able to
obtain a copy of the play and
read it with great scrunity. It
was revealed to me that the
author of the play was an
African American playwright,
Charles Smith, who was sup
ported by the Goodman
Theater for five years in work
ing on this project.
Having completed reading
the play, I now had a clue as
to why a major white theater
company would support
American playwright writing
a play about Marcus Mosiah
Garvey.
Since African people were
captured and introduced into
the Western Hemisphere as
property and commodities, the
forces of white supremacy
have developed a formula for
their continued white domina
tion and control of our history.
That is, find a talented
African person who is well
trained and collaborate with
them by paying them to write
plays, books, movies, songs
and poems that do not in any
way enhance the contributions
of African people to the world.
In fact, this formula enhances
white supremacy and white
domination.
Such is the case of “Black
Star Line” by Charles Smith. I
managed to get complimentary
tickets on two occasions to see
the play. I even attempted to
discuss my objections about
the play before seeing the play
with Goodman Theater offi
cials who informed me they
support the writer's individual
right to write a fictionalized
version of Garvey and the
Garvey movement.
And that is precisely what
the play is. A fictionalized ver
sion of a profound period in the
history of Afiican people to
find a self determining, ideo
logical, programmatic and
organized response to our con
ditions as a people.
The play reduces Marcus
Garvey, his organization and
the movement he led to a per
son who was unable to speak
without notes; a person who
was unable to negotiate his
personal life and hits his wife;
a person concerned and
obsessed with Afiican people
using skin lightening, a person
who allowed petty thievery to
take place in his organization,
the Universal Negro
Improvement Association,
which is depicted in the play
as why the Black Star Line
shipping project was not suc
cessful.
And finally, the play depicts
Garvey as someone who met
with KKK leaders without
giving any background as to
why. And a person who
always had his hand out to
the black elite in terms of
efforts to raise money. We all
know that Chicago banker
Jesse Binga was not in New
York in 1914 donating money
to the Garvey movement. And
we are not privy to records
showing that Madam C.J.
Walker participated in help
ing to organize the Black Star
Line in New York to donate
money to the Garvey
Movement.
To say the least, “ Black Star
Line” is horribly researched.
And even though the
Goodman Theater stands on
its support of Charles Smith,
it is clear to me that on both
instances I saw the play, the
audience left thinking that
this was the real history of
Garvey and the Garvey move
ment. What a tragedy!
Garvey, interestingly
enough, among his many tal
ents wrote poetry arid plays
and understood that Afirican
people should control our own
culture through the arts. As
Tony Martin reveals in his
definitive book, "Race First,"
on Garvey - that Garvey wrote
the play "The Coronation of
the African King” [and]it was
performed at his Edelweiss
Park Headquarters in
Jamaica in 1930.
One scene showed the
French premier and British
Prime Minister David Lloyd
George conferring over UNIA
penetration into Africa.
The more than 6 million
UNIA members throughout
the African world under the
leadership of the Honorable
Marcus Mosiah Garvey pre
sented one of the greatest
threats to the system of white
supremacy in the 20th centu
ry. That is why they worked
so hard with some black peo
ple to help destroy Garvey and
his movement. The play does
not illustrate this point.
For Garvey, the black man
and woman were universally
oppressed on racial grounds.
No matter how much people
try to shy away from this
issue, the fact is this is still
true today.
If we are ever to become a
liberated people, this idea
must be deeply rooted in the
day-to-day organizing and
mobilizing of our people.
Garvey understood that the
foundation of our liberation
was economic independence
based on racial solidarity that
is tied to political, cultural,
social, and spiritual indepen
dence.
Garvey would never write a
play about our history and sell
it to a white theater company.
We must elevate our own
plays on Garvey and produce
them in our own African con
trolled and financed theaters.
If not, then - what you see is
what you get.
Continued white domination
and control of our history.
CONRAD WORRILL is
national chairman of the
National Black United Front
in Chicago.
How the Republican Congress can silence its critics
By Milton Bins
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Let me add my voice to those
who have urged the congres
sional leadership to stand firm
on balancing the budget by
2002.
On behalf of my grandchil
dren and all of America's chil
dren and grandchildren, I
want to commend the historic
104th Congress for placing the
federal government on a glide
path to fiscal sanity which will
lead to lower taxes, lower
interest rates, more jobs and,
freedom from bureaucratic red
tape.
The brickbats and partisan
pounding notwithstanding,
the nation owes a debt of grat
itude to Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and
House Speaker Newt Gingrich
(R-Ga.) for keeping their
promise to the American peo
ple to balance the budget,
using the Congressional-
Budget Office's real numbers.
It would be pollyannaish not
to make note of the political
points scored by Democrats in
their reckless and demagogic
charges that efforts to slow
the rate of growth in social
programs are in fact "cut
backs." In truth. Democratic
charges have stuck because of
their fear campaign and a
growing public perception that
the budget is being balanced
on the backs of the working
poor, the middle class, chil
dren, welfare mothers and
senior citizens. Contributing
to this perception is the fail
ure to tackle corporate wel
fare, which consumes a far
larger share of the federal
budget than social welfare
cash programs. While the
Balanced Budget Act of 1995
vetoed by President Clinton
eliminated $18 billion in tax
loopholes for special interests
over a seven-year period, the
CBO has scored business sub
sidies at $100 billion a year,
including $70 billion in tax
breaks.
If the Republican revolution
is to continue, it must be per
ceived as fair, with opportuni
ty and compassion to the
neediest among us. Congress
must begin to reform corpo
rate welfare — the party's
Achilles' heel — with the
same purposefulness with
which it is overhauling social
welfare programs. A good
start would be to go back to
the future: back to the party
of Lincoln. We can do this by
passing the information age
equivalent of the Morrill Act
signed into law by President
Abraham Lincoln on July 2,
1862.
At a time when the very sur
vival of the union was at risk,
the party of Lincoln demon
strated leadership and bold
vision. It took action to ensure
the availability of a skilled
work force prepared for the
new opportunities of the then-
emerging industrial revolu
tion. The act granted a public
resource - land — to the
states to establish institutions
of higher education (it was
amended in 1890 to provide
educational opportunities for
black Americans).
With one fell swoop, the
Republican Congress can
silence its critics, assert its
trusteeship over public
resources, reduce the federal
budget deficit, and provide
educational and training
opportunities for all
Americans by authorizing the
Federal Communications
Commission to auction the
digital broadcast spectrum to
the highest bidder and ear
marking some of the proceeds
for educational technology
block grants to the states to
accelerate connecting the
nation's public schools and
libraries to the information
superhighway.
MILTON BINS is chairman
of the Council of 100 Black
Republicans in Washington,
D.C.
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