Page 2 The Skanner March 21, 2018
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Black Women You Should Know
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News Editor
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Opinion
ll too often, our “histo-
ry” month turns into a
tribute to the past. And
while the past is an im-
portant place to lift up it is, in-
deed, a tributary, a stream that
flows into the larger stream of
an unbounded future. The fu-
ture must always be greater
than the present, or there has
been no progress. And, in the
words of Frederick Douglas,
“progress concedes nothing
without a demand.”
I spend much of Women’s
History Month thinking of
those who have come before
me; I stand on their shoul-
ders. I claim Women’s His-
tory Month for Black Wom-
en and love to call our roll
of luminaries that, for me,
includes Dr. Sadie Tanner
Mossell Alexander, the first
Black woman to get a Ph.D. in
economics, Dr. Phyllis Ann
Wallace, the first Black wom-
an to get a Ph.D. in economics
from Yale, and the first to at-
tain tenure at MIT. There are
more, but I also want to spec-
ulate about the future role of
luminaries and reflect on that
fact that many Black women
have made it possible for us
to bask in a new generation of
leadership. The past has laid a
foundation, but the future is
far more important than the
past.
Thus, Leah Daughtry (who
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
managed the 2016 Demo-
cratic National Convention),
Minyon Moore (who had a
key role in the Clinton cam-
paign), and Yolanda Caraway
(an amazing political opera-
tive who has worked for Rev.
Jesse Jackson, President Bill
Clinton, and candidate Hil-
“
The past has
laid a founda-
tion, but the
future is far
more import-
ant than the
past
lary Clinton), put a footprint
in the sand for future leader-
ship with their Power Rising
conference in Atlanta, last
month. They gathered more
than a thousand Black wom-
en from around the country
to develop a “Black Women’s
Agenda,” deliberately mix-
ing up the seasoned with the
sassy, established leaders
with those who are eager to
make their mark.
Symone Sanders, the CNN
commentator who made
her mark supporting Ber-
nie Sanders, and who does
not back down from a fight
around principles and issues,
led a panel of young women
who spoke of the challenges
in their work. Amanda Brown
Lierman, a new mom and the
political director of the Dem-
ocratic National Committee,
was among those on another
panel about life in politics.
Others on that panel included
LaDavia Drane, who led Black
outreach for Hillary Clinton
and is now chief of staff for
Congresswoman Yvette Clark
(D-N.Y.) and Boston City Coun-
cilor Ayanna Pressley, who is
now running for Congress.
These young women aren’t
playing! They are calling out
their elders, but also calling
out the rules. They aren’t try-
ing to toe a line, they are try-
ing to make a difference.
Ayanna Pressley, as an ex-
ample, is challenging an in-
cumbent Democrat in a Con-
gressional primary. Tired of
being told to “wait her turn”,
she has decided that now is
her time. Even though she
has always garnered sup-
port from Emily’s List, the
fact that she is challenging a
pro-choice Democratic man
in Boston has not won her
support from the political es-
tablishment. Yet the 42-year-
old sister says she will not be
constrained by tradition. The
Power Rising conference rep-
resented an example of that
unfettered and passionate
energy.
One of the most promising
young leaders is Tamika Mal-
lory, one of the four co-lead-
ers of the Women’s March.
Tamika is a protégé of Rev. Al
Sharpton (her parents were
among the founders of the
National Action Network, and
she served as its Executive
Director for several years).
Because of her amazing work,
Mallory earned a Phoenix
Award from the Congressio-
nal Black Caucus Foundation
in 2017. With appropriate hu-
mility, she accepted her award
“for the people,” and the most
important thing that one gets
from Tamika Mallory is that
she loves humanity, loves
Black people, and especially
Black women. She, like the
others mentioned, is a leader
for our future. She is the fu-
ture of Black Women’s Histo-
ry. We all know that because
she is a leader, she will attract
negative energy and still, she
rises, walking through life
with her shoulders back, head
held high, an unapologetic
lover of her people.
Remember (The Truth About) The Alamo
O
n a Saturday evening
in February 1955, like
a million other kids in
America with their eyes
glued to black and white tele-
visions, I sat watching Walt
Disney’s version of the Battle
of the Alamo.
What we saw was the popu-
lar actor Fess Parker portray-
ing a heroic Davy Crockett on
the ramparts of the famous
old Spanish mission battling
Mexican soldiers for free-
dom.
What I did not know at the
time was that the history sur-
rounding this battle, and the
role of Americans in the early
history of the Mexican repub-
lic, was being extremely dis-
torted.
Walt Disney never told us
that slavery was the reason
for the battle and the ultimate
creation of the Republic of
Texas, which later became the
state of Texas.
On Sept. 16, 1829, the Af-
ro-Mexican president of Mex-
ico, Vicente Guerrero, signed
a decree outlawing slavery in
that nation at a time when the
southern United States was
deeply in thrall to slave labor.
While most of Mexico wel-
comed the emancipation
decree, its northern region,
known as “Texas,” was large-
ly populated with American
Southerners who had moved
west in search of more fertile
Oscar H.
Blayton
Attorney,
NNPA
Columnist
land where their slaves could
produce cotton.
To accommodate the “Texi-
can” slaveholders, Texas was
exempted from the decree for
one year. But after the period
“
Walt Disney
never told us
that slavery
was the rea-
son for the
battle
of exemption ended in 1830,
the Texicans refused to free
their slaves and the Mexican
government demanded that
they comply with the law or
face military intervention.
While military interven-
tion did not occur for another
six years, several violent con-
flicts broke out in the inter-
im between Texicans and the
Mexican government
Finally, in 1836 Gen. Anto-
nio López de Santa Anna led
an army north from Mexico
City to put down what had
grown to be a Texas insurrec-
tion and freeing slaves along
the way.
Determined to resist Mex-
ico’s intention to free their
slaves, Davy Crocket and
roughly 200 other Texicans
gathered at the Alamo in San
Antonio to block Santa An-
na’s advancing army. Santa
Anna laid siege to the Alamo,
and after 13 days, it fell.
While the “heroes” of the
Alamo were under siege, Sam
Houston and other Texicans
were less than 200 miles away
drafting a constitution for the
hoped-for independent Re-
public of Texas. It contained
the following guarantees that
slavery would be protected:
“…[N]or shall Congress
have power to emanci-
pate slaves; nor shall any
slave-holder be allowed to
emancipate his or her slave
or slaves, without the consent
of Congress...”
The Texas constitution es-
tablished additional racist
policies by stating:
“No free person of African
descent, either in whole or
in part, shall be permitted to
reside permanently in the Re-
public, without the consent of
Congress...”
Weeks after their defeat at
the Alamo, the slaveholding
Texicans got what they want-
ed when they defeated Gen.
Santa Anna at the Battle of
San Jacinto and forced him, as
a prisoner, to sign the Treaty
of Velasco. That treaty recog-
nized Texas as a republic, in-
dependent of Mexico, but it
also stated in part:
“[A]ll private property in-
cluding… negro slaves… that
may have been captured by
… the Mexican army or may
have taken refuge in the said
army … shall be restored to
the Commander of the Texi-
can army…”
The Mexican government
refused to recognize the Trea-
ty of Velasco and consequent-
ly did not return any slaves.
But Texas continued as a
slaveholding republic and lat-
er as a slaveholding state.
Twenty-five years after the
Battle of the Alamo, Texas,
along with 10 other slave-
holding states, tried to revolt
against the United States as it
had with Mexico.
Today, whenever we hear
cries of “Remember the Al-
amo,” we should ignore Dis-
ney’s image of Davy Crockett
bravely wielding his musket
as a club in defense of free-
dom while being swarmed by
Santa Anna’s troops. Instead,
we should remember that
Crockett and those by his side
were fighting in defense of
slavery, not freedom.
Oscar H. Blayton is a former
Marine Corps combat pilot
and human rights activist who
practices law in Virginia.
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