Back When We Were Negroes

There was a time until the early 1960s when the terms to describe those of African descent, like me — African-American or Black or Afro-American — were almost unheard of. I remember a distinct conversation with a friend discussing descriptive terms for ourselves in 1963 or ’64. The term “black” was just coming into vogue and he didn’t like it one bit. Call me a Negro,” he said, “but don’t call me black”.

Now, the word “Negro” (publications used a lower case “n”)  has almost become a pejorative, so I was a little surprised when my pastor, the Rev. Willie Reid, used it during Thursday’s revival. “Back when we were Negroes,” he said, and listed several things that were different about black life in America back then.

That got me to thinking. Back when we were Negroes in the 1950s, “only 9 percent of black families with children were headed by a single parent,” according to “The Black Family: 40 Years of Lies” by Kay Hymowitz. “Black children had a 52 percent chance of living with both their biological parents until age 17. In 1959, “only 2 percent of black children were reared in households in which the mother never married.”

But now that we’re African-Americans, according to Hymowitz, those odds of living with both parents had “dwindled to a mere 6 percent” by the mid-1980s. And check this, in Bibb County (GEORGIA), more than 70 percent of the births in the African-American community are to single mothers.

Back when we were Negroes and still fighting in many parts of the country for the right to vote, we couldn’t wait for the polls to open. We knew our friends, family and acquaintances had died getting us the ballot. Dogs and fire hoses were used to keep us away and still we came. But now that we’re African-Americans, in a city of 47,000 registered — predominately black voters — more than 30,000 didn’t show up at the polls July 19.

Back when we were Negroes, we had names like Joshua, Aaron, Paul, Esther, Melba, Cynthia and Ida. Now that we are African Americans, our names are bastardized versions of alcohol from Chivas to Tequila to C(S)hardonney. And chances the names have an unusual spelling.

Back when we were Negroes, according to the Trust For America’s Health’s “F as in Fat,” report, “only four states had diabetes rates above 6 percent. … The hypertension rates in 37 states about 20 years ago were more than 20 percent.” Now that we’re African-Americans, that report shows, “every state has a hypertension rate of more than 20 percent, with nine more than 30 percent. Forty-three states have diabetes rates of more than 7 percent, and 32 have rates above 8 percent. Adult obesity rates for blacks topped 40 percent in 15 states, 35 percent in 35 states and 30 percent in 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Back when we were Negroes, the one-room church was the community center that everyone used. Now that we’re African-Americans, our churches have lavish — compared to back-in-the-day churches — community centers that usually sit empty because the last thing the new church wants to do is invite the community in.

Back when we were Negroes, we didn’t have to be convinced that education was the key that opened the lock of success, but now that we’re African-Americans, more than 50 percent of our children fail to graduate high school. In Bibb County last year, the system had a dropout rate of 53.4 percent.

Back when we were Negroes, the last thing a young woman wanted to look like was a harlot and a young man a thug, but now that we’re African Americans, many of our young girls dress like hootchie manas and our young boys imitate penitentiary custom and wear their pants below the butt line. If I could reverse all of the above by trading the term “African-American” for “Negro,” what do you think I’d do?

Charles E. Richardson - The Telegraph’s editorial page editor.

All I can say to this is Amen thank you Mr. Richardson and that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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The Right is Wrong

I was an early supporter of Barrack Obama long before anyone would outwardly conceive the notion that he could possibly be president of these United States. I was not behind him because he would be the first Black President rather because I am an American and from the choices available – he was the best and only choice. After living though about a dozen presidents this man was then and is now the only hope to address the issues concerning my life.

I said, on November 4th, when Mr. Obama won the election and again on that amazing day in January when he was inaugurated that “he was going to have a Columbus Experience”. What I meant by that was he was going to discover America. Having a black man as president of America was the most significant event to happen since the resurrection of “Jesus”. No one living or dead ever thought America (with its horrible racial history) would EVER elect a black man President.

Now, for all of you who want or wanted to believe we are now living in a post-racial society and all is right racially with the world, you can now see that as much as things change – they stay the same. I can speak from what I have witnessed in my life. I attended segregated schools and it inspired me to want to be an American, even when I was being degraded and humiliated by America as a “Colored Boy”.

I then did what my hero Muhammad Ali advocated against by joining the military and served in Vietnam. Ali made a famous quote at the time that spoke volumes. He said, “I have no quarrel with the Viet Cong”. Just as African Americans have done during every war I was part of a cause that I really had nothing to do with or anything to gain from it. Because the reality is that war is about money not freedom but I was conditioned like so many before me to be patriotic.

When I think about how America tries to impose their will upon others there are war monger ready to see young people die. I asked myself why these hawks, the Grand Ol Party (GOP), who are fervently Christian and believe in the right to life so strongly support wars. Some talk about secession, calling for a new Civil War, waking a sleeping giant, questioning the president’s birth and citizenship, people bringing guns to his rallies while knowing this countries horrible history of assignations, calling the president a Nazi, a Socialist, and frankly everything but the “N-word”. The answer might be because an elephant has a brain the size of a peanut.

Frankly, it is hard to find fault in what this president has done during his term. He brought the country back from the abyss unless and one could say saved the Republic. Could it be that those who oppose him have a brain the size of a peanut? I don’t speak for the African American community or anyone - but me. I have lived through and witnessed bigotry via segregation and Jim Crow. And what I see today is not too different!

I have witnessed the appalling darker angels of America’s past and when “THEY” speak of the party of ideals and degrade America’s Commander in Chief – there is nothing ideal about it. We have a long history to demonstrate what their ideals are but if we stand strong behind and with our best hope, our President, by lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness – we, he will overcome. I say, reelect him to another term. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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