Friday, February 27, 1998
Black history now
HISTORY: Honestly confronting painful past of slavery is only way to progress
By Michelle Navarro
Daily Bruin Staff
we are told over and over again
to forget about it
get over it
get on with it
stop
rehashing ancient history
I respond by saying
No
this is not ancient history
No
I cannot just get over it
No
I cannot and I will not forget
Slavery
In a corner of a display case, outside of the Center for African-American Studies Library, sits this anonymous piece, typed on rectangles of purple paper. In this corner lies a written testimony of the pain still caused by this era of history, over 130 years later.
The poem addresses the frustration of African Americans, who are often requested to forget slavery, to forget the oppression, to forget the past. Should it be heeded? Can people be asked to forget history?
"That would be the worst thing," said Ellen Dubois, a professor in the history department. "It would be amnesia, not knowing who you are or where you came from."
Perhaps those making the call to forget are ignorant of the shocking history, or, like Sidney Lemelle said, it is a reflection of America's fear of facing and admitting its corrupt past.
"This country needs to admit that the foundation of it is racist," said Lemelle, a visiting associate professor in the Center for African-American Studies. He also went on to explain that the masking and sugar-coating of the past are all a part of what he called the "construction of American mythology."
In younger years, children are taught that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and was the good guy, that Thomas Jefferson was as good as the presidents get, and that so many people fought for the rights of slaves.
What they neglect to inform the young, growing minds was that although Abraham Lincoln freed African Americans from their roles as slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he actually said in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 that he was "not in favor of negro citizenship" and that had his home state, Illinois, had the power to make them citizens, he "should be opposed."
And, in what has been called one of the great contradictions in history, Thomas Jefferson, as an author of the Declaration of Independence, believed that "all men are created equal," yet at the same time he owned slaves and even fathered a few slave children.
As for all those people who fought on behalf of slaves, a good majority of them were against slavery because they felt it was morally wrong. However, they were also "anti-Black." Their fight was to end the institution of slavery, but that was it. It did not mean they were ready to accept the freed people as their equals.
Some Philadelphia Quaker meetings, though devoted to the anti-slavery cause, maintained segregated seating for black people in their churches.
It is impossible for one newspaper article to go back and try to recapture the grim and alarming life that existed for slaves and accurately do it justice. However, many do not know the truth or realize the atrocity of what happened in the "land of the free" back in the 19th century.
"'Amistad' is a perfect example," Lemelle said. "People go see it and say ,'Oh my God, I didn't know it was that bad.' It's a debate that this country has never come to grips with."
To those who are educated about all that occurred, it's difficult to ignore. Haunting images and narratives have been passed down, and live in everything from movies like "Amistad" to the poem posted in the basement of Haines Hall.
What happened to a whole race, displaced from their native country beginning as early as 1517, because of their darker skin color and because of the greed of Southern plantation owners, cannot be forgotten because it still affects the minds of descendants today.
Slaves were property; they couldn't get married, they were sold and torn from their families, they were beaten often to the brink of death, they were raped to "breed" more slaves once the international slave trade was abolished, they were over-worked and malnourished - the list could go on.
Although the institution of slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment in 1865, it still lurks - not just in memory, but also in the economic and social problems of the present times.
"We won liberation, but that's not what we have in the new society," said Jihad Saleh, a fifth-year political science and sociology student with a minor in African-American studies. "They didn't ask us if we wanted to be citizens, if we wanted to have political power over economic power."
In a lecture concerning post-Civil War reconstruction, Dubois mentioned how although slaves had been given freedom and the chance to own their own property to live a self-sufficient life, in reality less than 10 percent actually owned any property.
Another student felt the African-American situation was unique from all the other instances of immigration in America's history, mainly because of the fact that they did not come to the United States by choice. From the beginning, oppression dripped into every aspect of their lives.
"You can see the effects just in terms of the way the African-American community is structured and the problems they have," said Chad Williams, a fourth-year African-American history student and African Student Union chair. "It can be traced back to slavery. We were not allowed to develop as a community."
Socially, the era left a problem that is still being dealt with today, racism.
"The vestiges continue," Lemelle said. "Slavery was maintained through physical force and coercive force by society. One way they did that was through racism."
Lemelle explained that by equating a black man with an ignorant and inferior slave, the pro-slavery society was able to justify its actions and at the same time instill the deep roots of racism.
"Racism is just built into the fabric of this country," Dubois said. "It's not something that will ever disappear. It was built into the structure of American history."
Reconstruction is still happening. It was only 30 years ago that our country saw the civil rights movement. But that doesn't mean the fight or the struggle is over, so forgetting the past is out of the question.
"In an ideal world that would be fine," Lemelle said, "I would say yeah, let's forget about it. But that doesn't wipe it out. It's not simply a Black and White issue - it affected the poor European immigrants, the Indians, the Chinese and obviously the Mexicans."
History creates a ripple effect that reaches far into the depths of time. It defines what is today, it is a reminder, and it is a chance to look back and learn.
"In my mind there is a faint glimmer of hope (for the future)," Lemelle said. "But I'm not too optimistic, partly because of those people who say 'forget about it.'"
The end of the journey to social unity and equality that began with the 13th Amendment may be at the door or a mile away. But ignoring the past would be a step in the wrong direction.