Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1970)
PORTLAND /O BSE R VE R Oct. 8, 1970 AS THE KROW FLIES Exploding the Myth By LEON HARRIS One of the bigger lies that Am erica has given the World is that Lincoln freed the slaves, and that Blacks should be grate ful from can to can’t because M r. Lincoln was so generous. It is true that Lincoln affixed his signature to a proclamation giv ing the slaves th e ir freedom and that the slaves, thereby, were free to ’ ’get hat.” It is not true that Lincoln did so out of the goodness of his heart o r that we have to be grateful to him. What does it matter why he did it: Isn't it sufficient that he did it? No, because white folks never miss an opportunity to te ll us "what we did fo r you people." The Black school child grows up feeling half-guilty for even thinking about cussing out a white man, because he's teen taught that it was a white man who gave us freedom. How many times has the photograph teen reprinted of the sm all Negro boy staring up at the statue of Lincoln at the Lincoln M em ori al? What is the catechism the Black Child learns from grade one on? "C lass, what did Abra ham do?" "L in co ln freed the slaves," and the point is driven home that you’d s t ill be down on M r. C harlie's plantation work ing from can to can't if M r. Lincoln hadn't done your great- g r e a t - g r a n d m a m a a favor. (Every black person in Am erica can trace his ancestry back to A frica by way of a b ill of sale. It's easier to trace the history of a piece of furniture then the fam ily history of a black per son.) Blacks have no reason to feel grateful to Abraham L in coln. Rather, they should be angry at him . A fte r a ll, he came into office in 1861. How come it took him two (2) whole years to free the slaves? A ll he had to do was get up one morning and say, "Doggonitl I think I'm gonna free the slaves today. It just ain't right fo r folks to own other fo lk s ." It was that simple. M r . Lincoln, however, like other presidents moved p o liti cally, not m orally. He said that if he could keep the Union to gether by maintaining slavery, he’d do it. He was in office to preserve the Union, not free the slaves. (Nowadays they say pre serve law and order, not see that Blacks get a little justice.) The C iv il War is represented in school text books as a war to free the slaves. It turned out that way but that ain't the way it started out. (Let’s be serious. White folks ain't gon' engage in four years of bloody fighting over the conditions of Blacks. We’ re supposed to believe that nonsense though.) At the begin ning of the war, the union army was under s tric t orders not to interfere with slavery. When one general seized two counties in V irg inia, he immediately is sued a proclamation to this ef fect to the local white people. Concisely speaking, any Blacks heading North that were cap tured by the Union A rm y were returned to the slave owners, irrespective of whether they w e re slaves o r freemen, but that never entered the captains' minds. They were black - and if they weren't previous slaves, they were after they ran into the Union Arm y. On July 4, 1861, Colonel P ryor of Ohio, went so far as to deliver a speech to the people of V irginia, saying, " I assure you that the relation of master and servant as recognized in your state shall be respected. Your authority over that species of property shall not in the least be interfered with. To this end, I assure you that those under my command have premptory orders to take up and hold any Negroes found running about the camp without passes from th e ir m aste rs." H istory te lls us much about the reasons fo r this C iv il War, but what it fails to mention was that the C iv il War was begun in the interest o f slavery on both sides, the South was fighting to take slavery out of the Union and the North was fighting to keep it in the Union; the South was fighting to get it beyond the lim its of the United States Con stitution, and North was fighting fo r the old guarantees, both de Approximately one out of three persons In Clackamas, M u ltn o m a h , and Washington Counties in Oregon, and Clark County, W a s h in g to n , are helped by one o r more of Unit eti Good Neighbors 126 ser vices. spising the Negro, lx>th insulting the Negro. Once the war was over and the slaves freed, everytedy had the same questions; What shall we do with the Negro? Lincoln had an interesting proposal.Send them back to A frica . (Most of them were bom in Am erica; so he really meant send them back to A frica.) "Y o u r race suffers greatly, many of them, by livin g among us, while ours suffers from your presence. In a word we suffer on each s id e ." If this is admitted, it affords a reason why we should be departed. If not fo r the institution of slavery and the race as a basis the war could not have an existence. Frederick Douglass told him like it was. " A horse thief pleading that the existence of the horse is the apology for his theft, o r a highwayman contend ing that the money in the tra ve l le r's pocket - is the sole fir s t cause of his robbing, are about as much entitled to respect as is the President's reasoning at this point. No. M r. President, it is not the innocent horse that makes the horse thief, nor the tra v e lle r's purse that makes the highway robber, and it is not the presence of the Negro that causes this foul and unnatural war, but the cruel and brutal c re p itity of those who wish to possess horses, money and Ne groes by means of theft, ro te bing, and re b e llio n ." So who really freed the slaves? We are reminded of the old Indian connotation, "W hite man speaks with forked tongue," as being more truth than poetry. K e lly ’s MOBIL SERVICE 3643 N.E. 7»h 28 2-2858 Tone Ups & Brake Jobs Aoto Repair Maranatha Evangelistic Center 122 N.E. Skidmore Phone 288-3700 — 4035 * "Unusual Services with an Unusual People because of an Unusual Christ” Reverend Wendell Wallace, Paster Sunday School......................................... 9:15 A M. Morning Worship .................................. 10:45 A.M. Evening W orship................................................ 7:00 P.M. Hour Power — W ed...........................................7:00 P.M. Friday-Youth-O-Ram a...................................... 7:30 P.M. For Experienced Catering Service MT. OLIVE BAPTIST CH Try Johnson’s Catering Company. Phone 282-4951 116 N.E. SCHUYLER 2 8 4 -1 9 5 4 St. Mark Baptist Church 103 N.E. Morris St. Rev E C. Wilder, Pastor Sunday School Best Wishes to the Morning Worship Vesper 9 a m 1 1:0 0 a m 5 :0 0 pm . Portland Observer Rev John Jackson 8 D. Pastor Betty White Sundoy School Morning Worship 9 30 A M 1 1 0 0 A M The friendly Church, where worship is Glorified BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH 5 8 2 8 N.E. 8th Avenue £ A . Lee Ken de r son, M inister Ellis Casson, Associate M inister Church School 9 3 0 A M. M o rn in g W orship 10 4 5 A M W e d . N o o n — The Hour o f Power 1 2 0 0 N oon W e d Proyer-Closs M e e tin g 7 30 P M N u rse ry Core Provided Servant Church To A Seculor Community Phone 2 8 8 -5 4 2 9 Since 1957 WE TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING 9 4 ^ JANITOR SERVICE FULL LIABILITY INSURANCE C o m p lete B U IL D IN G M A IN T E N A N C E WINDOW CLEANING AIR CONDITIONING & VENTILATING SYSTEMS CLEANED EXTERIOR BLDG WASHING WALL WASHING - RESTROOM & KITCHEN SANITATION-FLOOR CLEANING & WAXING, ETC - Specializing In - FACTORIES —OFFICES CLINICS-WAREHOUSES D aily- W eekly- Monthly Service 1 Having a dance or social event? Let us rent you a neat spacious hall w ith necessary facilities to accommodate ap proxim ately one hundred peo ple. Reasonable fee. One bed room and Bachelor apts for rent also. For inform ation call 2 8 8 -4 0 4 0 LITTLE PEOPLE S PUZZLE Esf/me’es Upon Request Maintenance Contracts ELI MOTOR COMPANY 5800 N.E. Union 284-5800 “The Working Man’s Friend »» Better Used Cars For Less Let Us Help You With Your Financing “ We Are Experts” SfAJO. /A id V D 8 HSI31V3 Ç 'Nid Ÿ 'SV3d C 'HOlVH3OIHd3H I — - umoq 3O h 6 '1IV11VD 8 '1HIHS L 'N M V J '9 'aiWVHÀd Z 'O ldV d I — ««ouay :S1J3MSNV