01 Aug 2003 America has Apologized, by Mychal Massie

The United States didn’t invent slavery. While it is historical fact that certain regions participated in and benefited from slavery, it should also be pointed out that America had the good sense to eliminate slavery and emancipate its slaves – acknowledging their full rights and citizenship.

America has also provided avenues of opportunity for blacks to excel to unparalleled levels. There are black billionaires such as Oprah Winfrey. Blacks fill key positions in many Fortune 500 companies. Attorneys, doctors, actors, authors, producers, professors, engineers, astronauts and small business owners, among others, are black.

Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are beloved and revered individuals. Together, Jordan and Woods are among the wealthiest and most admired people in America.

So, why was President Bush groveling and genuflecting in Africa? Why is the leader of the country that has given so much to all peoples – especially blacks – on bended knee?

I grow weary of the repetitious mantra of how bad blacks have had it or have it now. Not everyone came here in chains, Africans included. But people still come here to escape bondage and start in a new life, Africans included.

Because America is viewed by many as responsible for the accouchement of slavery, a couple points bear mentioning. Arab Muslims were the first slave traders; trading for African slaves on the eastern coast, and trading chattel throughout Western Africa. It’s a small wonder many blacks are choosing Islam as their true religion (sarcasm intended).

Additionally, while ships from America were amongst those carrying slaves, it should be noted that whites weren’t running through the jungle with nets and chains. That was left to the pre-colonial empires of the Dahomy and Ashanti tribes located in modern day Benin and Ghana.

If America is to hang her head in shame, let it instead be for the murder of millions of unborn babies. Let America hang her head in shame that vile usurpers of truth distort history and corrupt entire communities to make gain and oppress the ignorant.

It’s been said that “whites need to learn black history.” I’ll concede that if we recognize that we also need to learn our history. It was white Americans who locked arms with Dr. King, but it was a black man who used blood from King’s lifeless body to feign importance. It was white Republicans who passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

It was not Liberia, the Sudan, Ghana or the Congo that produced men and women such as Dr. Carter G. Goodson, Garrett Morgan, Percy L. Julian, Dr. Jane Wright, William A. Lester, Jr., Daniel Hale Williams, William B. Purvis and Norbert Rillieux.

America is a country whose people are willing to correct injustice with their lives. White college students were murdered supporting Dr. King. More than 600,000 Americans died to pay the price for America’s sin of slavery.

Even now, white Americans are doing what so-called black leaders will not. Groups such as Christian Solidarity International and the American Anti-Slavery Group are raising funds to free present-day African women and children from their Muslim captors.

While many take advantage of what America has to offer, others are spurred to dissent by loathsome and spurious individuals. As the President offered acknowledgments of past injustices while in Africa, reprobates here plot to use his words against him and our country.

U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) is pushing a bill calling for the creation of a commission to study the effects of slavery on the descendents of African slaves.

Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, said, “Bush is almost making light of the severity of slavery.”

William Fletcher, Jr., president of TransAfrica, told MSNBC: “Whether it’s called ‘reparations’ or ‘reconstruction assistance,’ something is needed in order to return peoples to their history.” He claims those of African descent “were ripped out of history, and they need to be reinstated where they otherwise would have been.”

Some black Americans embrace opportunity, while others embrace bitterness, ignorance and lies. We don’t need a commission to determine the effects of slavery. As for Booker and Fletcher, I would suggest they consider accommodations in Liberia or the Sudan, or perhaps Ghana or Uganda. Then again, there’s that place where fires burn eternal.

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