Barack Obama
Related: About this forumHow Obama’s Trayvon Martin remarks fit into fabric of presidential history
Opinion
by Professor Blair L.M. Kelley | July 23, 2013 at 8:50 AM
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The original conversation on race
Although President Bill Clinton is famously tagged with starting the idea of a national conversation on race, in his 1997 commencement address at the University of California-San Diego, American presidents have long had to address the issue. From Thomas Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia on forward, the question of race has been at the heart of how Americans might reconcile American democracy with systematic racial inequality. And for much of our history, their ideas have come well short of freedom and equity.
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The civil rights era leadership of the Executive Branch
Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was president when Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, and when Emmett Tills killers were freed after a quick show trial in Mississippi in 1955. Eisenhower seemed to try his best not to take a stand on the movement, and even refused the answer the telegram sent by Mamie Till, mother of the slain teenager, pleading that [he] personally see that justice is meted out in the beastly lynching of [her] son.
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JFK paves the way
The groundbreaking and turbulent events of 1963, particularly the young activists of Birmingham, Alabama who faced down the fire hoses and police dog attacks ordered by Birminghams Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor, finally pushed Kennedy to speak out. In his speech 50 years ago last month, Kennedy argued that civil rights should be thought of as part of the broader American struggle for freedom. Reminding Americans that while our armed forces were not whites only institutions, Kennedy insisted it ought to be possible for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color.
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Few in todays political climate felt like it was a good time for President Obama to talk about race following the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman. But the protests and profound disappointment in the wake of the verdict has created a national divide he clearly felt compelled to address.
more
http://thegrio.com/2013/07/23/obamas-trayvon-remarks-fit-into-fabric-of-presidential-history/
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
At the time of the American Revolution, Jefferson was actively involved in legislation that he hoped would result in slaverys abolition. In 1778, he drafted a Virginia law that prohibited the importation of enslaved Africans. In 1784, he proposed an ordinance that would ban slavery in the Northwest territories. But Jefferson always maintained that the decision to emancipate slaves would have to be part of a democratic process; abolition would be stymied until slaveowners consented to free their human property together in a large-scale act of emancipation. To Jefferson, it was anti-democratic and contrary to the principles of the American Revolution for the federal government to enact abolition or for only a few planters to free their slaves.
Although Jefferson continued to advocate for abolition, the reality was that slavery was only becoming more entrenched. The slave population in Virginia skyrocketed from 292,627 in 1790 to 469,757 in 1830. Jefferson had assumed that the abolition of the slave trade would weaken slavery and hasten its end. Instead, slavery only became more widespread and profitable. To try to erode Virginians support for slavery, he discouraged the cultivation of crops heavily dependent on slave labortobaccoand encouraged the introduction of crops that needed little or no slave laborwheat, sugar maples, short-grained rice, olive trees, and wine grapes. But by the 1800s, Virginias most valuable commodity and export was neither crops nor land, but slaves.
more
http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-slavery
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Jefferson was a big slave owner, and was not particularly kind to them.
Enjoyed rest of article, but it's hard to know the truth even with modern Presidents.
sheshe2
(87,272 posts)and the year was also 1778. That was 235 years ago.
He also believed
His thinking on the subject was far more advanced than many in this generation. He was unfortunately a flawed man. I posted his story as part of the first one to show a broader view on the subject. What went on through history to bring us where we are today.
Our President stands strong for the rights and freedoms of the Black Suppression that is trying to rear its ugly head again. He believes in it because it is part of his history, don't doubt his sincerity.
Please remember too that this is a BOG post.
Thanks Hoyt. I am glad you enjoyed the rest of the article.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Apologizing for him is like saying bush really tried to bomb Iraq into democracy.
If he wanted to end slavery, what better way to set an example than to free and not beat/rape them.
I really believe this country would be better off if they had taught the truth in schools - rather than the sanitzed myth - of the founding fathers who also treated women and Native Americans with little respect.
Time for some new heroes.
Cha
(305,137 posts)had the foresight to see how depraved slavery was for people.
Thank you to JFK for paving the way.
Mahalo for this article, she..