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Washington’s slave tunnel
illustrates important point
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bv M aki
H.
M orial
Just steps aw ay
from the Liberty Bell
an d In d ep e n d en ce
Hall in Philadelphia,
a rc h a e o lo g ists r e
cently unearthed re
mains of a secret pas
sagew ay that P resident G eorge
W ashington's slaves used to enter
and exit from his presidential home
in the late 1790s, when the city
served as the nation's capital.
Not far from where the D eclara
tion o f Independence was signed,
there stands evidence o f the hy
pocrisy that shrouded the burgeon
ing nation at its birth.
"As you enter the heaven o f
liberty, you literally have to cross
the hell o f slav ery ," o b serv ed
Michael C o a rd .le ad e ro fag ro u p o f
Philadelphians w orking to have the
slave tunnel recognized at the site,
to the A ssociated Press. "That's
the contrast. T hat's the contradic
tion. That's the hypocrisy. But that's
also the truth."
The father o f our country repre
sented a contradiction in terms. On
one hand, W ashington played an
im portant role in securing our
America's independence from En
gland. On the other hand, he served
as king o f his M ount Vernon estate
in Virginia.
Like King G eorge 111 whose rule
he fought to rid A m erica of, W ash
ington had his own set o f subjects
— over 300 slaves he had acquired
Smoke around your children and
they could inhale
equal to 102 packs
of cigarettes
by age 5.
d
l[
Everyone has the right
to breathe clean air,
especially our children.
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Dirty Little Secret in History
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through inheritance, marriage
an d tra n sa c tio n o v e r the
course o f his life. W hen he
becam e president, he had a
rotating east o f eight slaves
living in his P hiladelphia
house, where there w as a law
on the books making slaves
free after six m onths o f resi
dence. Hence, the rotating cast,
w hich he reportedly aimed to keep
secret from his staff and the public.
d id n 't o cc u r until after his w ife
died — not d u rin g his ow n life
tim e. H is p ersonal serv an t, h o w
e v e r, w as freed fo llo w in g his
d eath in 1799.
But as his p resid en t, it w as
d iffe ren t story. W ash in g to n c o n
cealed his personal m isg iv in g s
o v e r sla v ery from th e p u b lic,
w hich som e h isto rian s co n sid er a
tragic m issed o p p o rtu n ity w hile
o th e rs c o n te n d it a v e rte d the
upset o f a very d elica te balance
in the fled g lin g rep u b lic o v er the
co n ten tio u s issue. He signed into
law the F ugitive Slave A ct, w hich
m an d ated the cap tu re and release
o f fu g itiv e slav es, ev en in states
now the parties involved seem to
be serious about incorporating the
artifacts.
A s M r. C o ard noted to the AP:
" N o b o d y is s a y in g , 'N o , it
sh o u ld n 't he d o n e.' " T his bodes
w ell that they w on't attem p t to
co v e r up e v id en ce o f a d irty little
secret in A m erican histo ry .
T h e irony o f a n atio n c o m m it
ted to in d ep en d en ce and fre e
dom using slave lab o r to ach iev e
those g o als sh o u ld n ev er be lost
on u s, o u r c h i ld r e n o r o u r
ch ild ren 's g ran d ch ild ren .
A fter all, w ithout the contribu
tions o f A frican A m ericans, the
fledgling nation would have re-
The irony o f a nation committed to
independence and freedom using slave
labor to achieve those goals should
never be lost on us, our children or our
children's grandchildren.
v
W ashin g to n started o ut life as
a ty p ical slav e holder. But in the
1770s, he began to soften his
stan ce and ex p ress reserv atio n s
p riv ately . T h e sig n -u p o f h u n
d red s o f free black s to jo in his
rev o lu tio n a ry arm y m ade him
view slavery in a h arsh er light at
le ast on a p erso n a l lev el. H e
sto p p e d se llin g sla v es a g a in st
th e ir w ill to p rev en t b reak in g up
fam ilies, and he w as the only
slav e-o w n in g fou n d in g fath er to
em an cip ate them . T his, how ever.
w here slavery w as o u tlaw ed .
The recent discovery o f the slave
tu n n e l u n d e r h is h o m e h as
prom pted calls to incorporate the
ruins into a new exhibit as opposed
to ju st filling the passagew ay in. It
has caught N ational Park Service
and city officials by com plete sur
prise, causing an indefinite post
ponem ent o f the exhibit, originally
scheduled to open in 2009.
Before the tunnel was unveiled,
the exhibit w asn’t expected to dis
play archaeological findings. But
m ained a fledgling colony o f G reat
Britain.
O u r natio n ow es a huge d eb t o f
g ra titu d e to th e th o u sa n d s o f
slaves b ro u g h t o v e r here ag ain st
th e ir w ill from A frica. T h at is e x
actly w hy o ffic ia ls in P h ilad e l
phia should seek to in co rp o rate
th ese fa sc in atin g a rtifa c ts into
th e ir e x h ib it o f the W ash in g to n
p resid en tial hom e.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer o f the
National Urban League.
Empowering Our Poorest Citizens
Support anti
poverty plan
by J udge
G reg M athis
Well over 30 million
A m ericans live in pov
erty.
Som e are em ployed,
but their jo b s don't pay a
living w age. They worry
each month how they'll
pay for basic necessities,
like food and shelter. A
trip to a doctor is considered a
luxury. O thers live in extrem e pov
erty. They have no incom e and
often wonder where their next meals
will com e from.
In a country as rich in resources
as the United States, there shouldn't
be poverty o f any kind. All o f our
citizens have a right to a decent
quality o f life, where clean, safe
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Y O U R L O C A L L Y O W N E D , N E IG H B O R H O O D P H A R M A C Y A T A R B O R L O D G E
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housing, an adequate food supply
and access to healthcare are the
norm.
Realizing Am erica's poor were
growing in num bers and that there
was no com prehensive
national plan to stop it,
the C enter for Am erican
P ro g re s s la s t y e a r
brought together econo
m ists and other business
and governm ent leaders
to d isc u ss p o v erty in
America. These discus
sions led to the creation
o f a $90 billion plan designed to cut
American poverty in half in the next
10 years. It's an am bitious project,
but one worth taking on. T he coun
try m ust get behind it.
According to federal guidelines,
a fam ily o f four is considered poor
if the fam ily's yearly incom e is be
low $19,971. O ne in eight A m eri
cans currently lives in poverty. In
5 mi 11 ion poor workers and nearly 10
million other low -incom e workers.
Expanding the Earned Income
Tax C redit and C hild Tax Credit is
another key step. The EITC, a tax
credit for working low-income fami
lies provides a tax refund, helping
to boost the am ount o f money a
family brings home. T h eC h ild T ax
Credit provides a tax credit o f up to
$1,000 per child, but provides no
help to the poorest families.
The task force proposes tripling
the EITC for childless w orkers and
expanding help to larger w orking
families. It also proposes making
the Chi Id Tax Credit avai lable to all
low- and moderate-income families.
Doing so w ould m ove as many as 5
m illion people out o f poverty.
T he group also recom m ends
guaranteeing child care assistance
to low-income families and prom ot
ing early education for children.
Child care expansion w ould raise
In a country as rich in
resources as the United
States, there shouldn't be
poverty o f any kind.
the last six years the num ber o f poor
A m ericans has grown by five m il
lion and the gap between the haves
and the have not has widened co n
siderably.
Inequality has reached record
highs. Consider: the richest one
percent o f Am ericans possess the
largest share o fth e nation's income,
w hile the poorest 20 percent of
Am ericans possess only 3.4 per
cent o f the nation's income.
It doesn't have to be this way.
The plan to reduce poverty out
lines concrete steps that this coun
try can take now to uplift and em
pow er our poorest citizens in the
near future.
According to the task force that
has proposed the plan, raising the
m inimum w age, w hich the country
has done, is acritical step in helping
to alleviate poverty in America.
Doing so will eventually help nearly
em ploym ent am ong low -incom e
parents and help nearly 3 m illion
parents and children lift them selves
out o f poverty.
T h e s e ste p s se e m s im p le
enough, especially since they could
potentially help alleviate poverty
for m illions o f A m ericans, giving
them the opportunity to reach their
full potential, while also minimizing
the burdens tax payers m ust bear to
support those who are unable to
support them selves. The United
States governm ent must find the
funds - perhaps by calling an end to
the w ar in Iraq - to fully fund these
initiatives. Doing so would dem on
strate that this country is w illing to
invest in all o f its citizens.
Judge Greg Mathis is a national
vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
and a national board member o f
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.