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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 2/20/09

Black History Month Is Necessary

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To date, six African Americans have served in the United States Senate. In 1870, Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. In 1875, Blanche K. Bruce, also of Mississippi, took the oath of office. Nearly a century later, 1967, before Edward Brooke of Massachusetts followed in their historic path. In 1993, Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American woman to serve as United States senator.

 

The mass media and the general public, with more than just a little help from Mr. Obama, is having an orgy comparing Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln. The theme of President Obama's Inauguration is taken from President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "A New Birth of Freedom." President Obama paid fond tribute to Mr. Lincoln by challenging the nation to embrace his vision of a collective union.

 

Abraham Lincoln the 16th President of the United States resided during the Civil War, political crisis, and Reconstruction. President Barack Obama the 44th of the United States takes office while the United States engage in two wars and the greatest economic crises since 1929. Is this, also, the beginning of the second coming of Reconstruction?

 

After all, Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, 1865 put into effect his own Reconstruction plan, which gave the white South a free hand in establishing new government. Any first year student of Black History will tell you that the Johnson policy, and the actions of the governments he established, created conditions that reduce African Americans to conditions similar to slavery, and allowed white rebels to regain political power in the South; which gave birth to Jim Crow and Racism.

 

Someone who was very smart once said if you don't know your history you are bound to repeat it. The question should not be about the need for Black History Month. The question of debate should be; what caused the complete reversal of President Lincoln's political agenda after his assassination?

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William(Bill)Smith, Ph.D. an author, psychotherapist,consultant and personal coach. My practice focuses on online counseling, phone and face-to-face session with survivors of personal trauma,childhood abuse, relationship concerns, and individual (more...)
 
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