Freedom talk
28th December 2015 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
It’s hard to believe, but 2015 is finally coming to an end. It is a year that will be remembered for many things, among them the successful boycott organized by the University of Missouri football team, the mass shooting of nine Black worshippers at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, the terrorist attacks in Paris, France and San Bernardino, California and nationwide efforts to eliminate unconstitutional policing. 2015 will also be remembered as the year the City of New Orleans finally took steps to do away with a number of Confederate-era statues that should never have been erected in the first place.
Along the way we have revisited lessons and truisms that have served us well for a very long time. Among those lessons are:
1. Those who don’t learn from the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them.
2. To forget is the same as to throw away.
3. Power concedes nothing without a demand — it never did and it never will.
4. Freedom is never free.
5. I am because we are.
6. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
7. A people united will never be defeated.
As we celebrate Kwanzaa and move toward Black History Month, let us be ever mindful of the Beloved Ancestors who fought, marched, bled and sacrificed so that we might have a chance at a better life. Let us also be mindful of the fact that the struggle to secure economic freedom, justice and equal protection under the law is far from over.
There is no time for rest or celebration of the progress that has already been made. We must be dedicated, unrelenting and keep our eyes on the prize and liberation and self-determination on our minds.
We must also keep the struggle on our minds and in our mouths. To that end, here are some questions to keep things moving in the right direction:
How many people think that Councilwoman Stacy Head would make a great mayor for New Orleans, one that would represent the interests of all of the residents of this majority-Black city?
How many people get the fact that even when the Confederate statues come down, the people of New Orleans still have to deal with the systemic racism that continues to limit the educational and economic opportunities offered to Black people and affect every facet of Black lives?
Why can’t the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco & Firearms prevent the importation of drugs into New Orleans and other majority-Black U.S. cities?
Why do we never hear city leaders describe Charles Deslondes, one of the leaders of the 1811 slave revolt, as a heroic figure in New Orleans history?
Why is so little said about Tulane University’s Confederate past?
Does anyone see the connection between Tulane University’s history as an institution of higher learning founded with wealth amassed from the exploitation of enslaved Africans and the current practice of allowing Tulane to not pay property taxes in this majority-Black city while most of its scholarships are awarded to students from wealthy and privileged families?
What do you think about the Confederate statue supporter who yelled out “Who cares?” when a resident told the council to let veteran civil rights leader Jerome Smith speak at the council meeting because he was a Freedom Rider?
What would happen in New Orleans and across the U.S. if whites were required to learn about Black history, culture and contributions to the same degree that Blacks and other people of color are required to learn about the history and culture of Western Civilization?
How does former President Andrew Jackson still get considered a hero after ordering blankets that were once used by smallpox patients to be given to Native Americans and reneging on his promise to grant enslaved Africans their freedom if they helped America to defeat the British?
When was the last time you heard someone describe a successful white person as “a credit to his or her race”?
Should the City of New Orleans consider doing away with the name of Claiborne Avenue since William Claiborne used white fear and panic after the 1811 slave revolt to push the Louisiana Territory into accepting statehood?
Isn’t it interesting that the French Quarter is such an unwelcoming place for Blacks since enslaved Africans actually built the French Quarter?
Why don’t we ever hear about how enslaved Africans rebuilt the French Quarter twice after the area burned down?
How many tours of the Garden District include information about how the labor of enslaved Africans built not only many of the beautiful mansions that line St. Charles Avenue today but also the wealth that made those homes possible?
Why are there so few markers in the City of New Orleans that acknowledge the pivotal role enslaved Africans and free people of color played in the growth and development of New Orleans?
When does the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana plan to acknowledge the critical role Haitian revolution leader Toussaint L’Ouverture and his comrades played in the Louisiana Purchase?
When was the last time you went to a restaurant in the French Quarter and heard anything about the African roots of gumbo (nkombo)?
What are your thoughts about efforts by Italian Americans in New Orleans to get an apology from the City of New Orleans for the Sicilian immigrants lynched in the city many years ago?
How does a nation that defined itself as a safe haven for immigrants become so anti-immigrant in the 21st century?
Have you visited Little Africa in Algiers yet?
How many books about African history and culture do you plan to share with friends and loved ones during Kwanzaa and how many books about the African experience do you plan to read in the new year?
When was the last time you visited the African American Resource Center at the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library or the Amistad Research Center on the Tulane University campus?
How do you plan to spend Watch Night (aka Freedom’s Eve), which is celebrated on December 31 each year and commemorates the night when enslaved Africans eagerly awaited President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation?
This article originally published in the December 28, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
