TheLoop21.com

By: Lenny McAllister (Add to your loop)
Thu, 04/08/2010 - 00:00

Would our ancestors be proud of us or shameful?

April 8 is a historic day to ask the question: would our ancestors be proud of our actions, affiliations, and accomplishments in 2010?

You might have heard: there’s a little controversy about Black conservatives, the Tea Party, and fitting into Black America in the Age of Obama – the first Black president of the United States.

With that assortment of history, enigmas, and change playing a role in the media and the grassroots politically, the comment has come up repeatedly: Black Republicans’ ancestors would be ashamed of the nouveau Black political school of thought that finds more political kindred with the Tea Party Movement that it does with the Great Society generations currently making up a huge segment of the African-American population.

Today’s date of April 8 curiously begs the question: really?

The Frederick Douglas Foundation proudly purports in their annual calendar that on this date in 1864, 100 percent of Republicans in the U.S. Senate passed the 13th Amendment – the 19th century’s most important legislative endeavor - over the objection of over 60 percent opposition of Senate Democrats. This fact couples with the recent history of Republican triumph over the Democrat filibuster against the 20th century’s preeminent social legislation – the Civil Rights Legislation of the 1960s. This bit of history sheds light on why our African-American ancestors had such strong animosity towards the Democratic Party.

More recent history suggests that perhaps our ancestors would not be too happy with our current collective political affiliations, either.

For example, even with all the pride and joy of a Black president would they be ashamed of our allegiance to a party and a senator-turned-president that actively campaigned for the only senator that voted against Civil Rights legislation in the North (Robert Byrd, D-WV)? Would they be proud of a man that spent money on salvaging questionable social endeavors overseas while cutting funding to the colleges and universities that many of them invested their lives’ savings for?

Perhaps not, but if the ancestors’ disdain was cast towards African-Americans because of their allegiance with the Democrats – a move akin to invoking political slavery during their time – their political disapproval would be directed towards many Republicans as well.

With all of the pride that they may have in seeing the continuation of Black Republicanism, would they be ashamed to see Black Republican support of literary tests for suffrage validity, regardless of how rare that support might be? Would they disapprove of supporting of a presidential candidate that actively campaigned against the passage of the MLK holiday some 30 years ago or for a president that started his general election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi - less than 20 years after horrific racially-motivated killings?

Would they frown upon our involvement in the Tea Party Movement and push for separatism like Marcus Garvey did – or would they take advantage of the moments at the podium to address its ills directly as did Frederick Douglass during his infamous The Meaning of July 4th For the Negro speech?

Yet, if the ancestors’ disdain based on political affiliations of 21st century Black America, their resentment of our current blight socially – and our current reactions to it - would be inescapable in its call for accountability and change.

The ancestors’ true shame in our current actions, affiliations, and accomplishments in 2010 do not stem from Tea Parties and political parties.