Tagged: Thomas Jefferson

“Thomas Jefferson was fully aware of what the long-term impact of enslavement would be on white people and black people and everyone in between that were confused. He talked about the horror associated with what slave masters did and that their children imitated the behavior among their friends and younger children that were enslaved. And that that built into a sickness on the part of Europeans and hatred and antipathy on the part of Africans. [Jefferson’s] greatest fear is that it would end in [the] extermination of one or the other race. He says because God cannot side with us — meaning Europeans — in this contest. He cannot side with us, which means God will side with them. He says, ‘I tremble for my country when I consider that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever.’ So Thomas Jefferson not only knew at the time, the wrongness associated [with slavery] and recognized the long-term impact that it would it would have. These are his words — I’m not making this up. But somehow, it gets absent of the curriculum. Somehow, it gets removed and we talk about all the other things that he was able to expound upon. And I think that if we’re talking about healing, if we’re talking about a response, we have to look and understand historically, how the injury transmitted itself [and] what it looks like then [and] now and then contrast that with Africa.” — Dr. Joy De Gruy

although the STATUE OF LIBERTY is supposed to be symbolic of FREEDOM, she’s actually just another SLAVE SHACKLED IN CHAINS like you & I!

Statue of Liberty in NYC in 7th grade

I took the above photo of Statue of Liberty in 1997, when my seventh grade class took a field trip to VA, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C..

Well, late last week, I saw someone post some information about the statute that I had never been taught in the classroom or by the tour guides when I visited the landmark: the French originally modeled the Statue of Liberty off of a black, female slave. In one of the original drawings for the statute, there were chains hanging from her left hand, and her feet were chained as well. The white powers that be in our post-Civil War America opposed and wanted all racial references to slavery to be removed. However, the architect insisted the chains remain and although none of Lady Liberty’s chains are visible from the ground level, she still has the chains on her foot!!

Close-up-of-broken-shackles-on-Statue-of-Libertys-right-foot-Lady-Liberty-axe-chains

libertyslavechains

A couple days ago, I watched this incredible Gil Noble interview with Dr. Joy De Gruy. In the beginning of the 2009 interview, Dr. De Gruy discussed her recent visit to both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and used this trip to provide a powerful lesson on the reasons why we cannot ignore the REALITIES OF RACE/RACISM or pretend to be “colorblind” in a society that is HIGHLY RACE CONSCIOUS.

I included three out of the five clips that are on Youtube and I encourage everyone to watch them all. [I started the second clip near the 8 min mark where she picks up this topic again…but watch the entire thing. Also, watch the entire third clip because she shares a great story about Thomas Jefferson.]

Stop thinking you are free! As demonstrated by the Statue of Liberty: just because one cannot see the chains, it doesn’t mean they do not exist. Sometimes, in order to see them, you simply have to change your perspective or shift your paradigm. And the only way we will permanently remove these heavy ass chains, is by discovering the truth about our history and who we are as a people and liberating our powerful, black minds!

words of the wise.

benjaminbanneker

On this day, in 1731, Benjamin Banneker was born. Banneker was a free African American scientist, surveyor, almanac author and farmer. “Banneker had little formal education and was largely self-taught. He is known for being part of a group led by Major Andrew Ellicott that surveyed the borders of the original District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States. Banneker’s knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the topics of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised his works.” He died on October 9, 1806.

I am proud to have been the recipient of the Benjamin Banneker Association Award for excellence in mathematics as a sophomore at Apopka High School.

“Thomas Jefferson described the impeachment process as a ‘bungling way of removing Judges,’ equating its effectiveness to that of a scarecrow.”

Source: Burkeley N. Riggs and Tamera D. Westerberg. Judicial Independence: An Historical Perspective The Independence of Judges Is….Requisite To Guard the Constitution and the Rights of the Individuals…74 Denv. U. L. Rev. 337, 338 (1997) (citing Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History, 295 (1922).)

J. A. Rogers’ The Five Negro Presidents: According To What White People Said They Were (1965)

When I began preparing for this case against William Morris and Hollywood, I spent a lot of time trying to understand “race” in hopes of trying to understand why racism existed. In order for me to attempt to make sense of this complex social issue, I had to unlearn a lot of what I had been taught in school, in order for me to learn the truth about the history of my ancestors.

While reading Malcolm X’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, I first learned about the incredibly knowledgeable historian and author named J. A. Rogers. Rogers’ Sex and Race was one of the many books Malcolm read while in prison, which aided in his enlightenment. Since I was trying to do the same, I immediately purchased all three volumes of Rogers’ book. So far, I’ve only been able to read the first volume [more than three times], but it has provided me with a great foundation of world history and because of “master teachers” like Malcolm X and Rogers, that I have had the courage to challenge the legitimacy of global white/”Jewish” supremacy without fear.

As I was putting more books on my Amazon.com wish list, I came across another book by J. A. Rogers titled The Five Negro Presidents: According To What White People Said They Were. Luckily, I found the full text online, so I wanted to share. Please read — it’s only 19 pages.

Source: http://www.lojsociety.org/J_A_Rogers_The_Five_Black_Presidents.pdf.